God Save Our King of the dead
by taikoboususu
Summary: Yuuri's not sure about his feelings, but he has no time to think more about it, as something happens in Bielefeld's lands. Yuuram/Wolfyuu, dark/creepy stuff & zombies, but humor as well -not always black!
1. Chapter 1

Disc: I own nothing :( Except my computer, thank gods! Well and the story... But Yuuri, and Wolf and Conrad and all of kkm aren't mine.

__Rule N°1: ___! !_

Review if you want to :) I'll like it, if you do, and won't mind if it's to criticize (as long as it's polite :p)

I already made some needed changes (spelling, rating for later and stuff) so while I'm here...

DuuuuuuDee : I'll try to.

SwordFeather : Yuuram/Wolfyuu is about who's seme and who's uke. So we're not there yet (and who knows if they'll get to this point ^^ muhuhuhahaha!*cough*) "It's great to see Yuuri at least has the brains " careful :) the more people talk about brains in reviews, the more zombies will come out to feed.

Petula Petunia : Huhu I know but I won't tell :D And yup, Murata is great... But oh well, I like all of them. And about Wolf and Yuuri: That's why I said in the summary they were more based on the novels, in case someone would find them OOC (though it's still possible) event though the plot takes place with the story as it happens in the anime (I didn't find all the novels in english :()

Narudi18 : Hmm I had the same problem with Bielfeld/Bielefeld/Bielefield/t In the French translation, it's Valtrana Sorry. I'll change that :)

Please tell me if you notice other mistakes :)

And to all of you, thanks :)

I'll also make changes about the genres, I guess it's more adventure/romance than humor/adventure (though I try to be funny :p) 

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><p>With a quiet sigh, he opened his eyes and turned his head to watch his bedmate.<p>

Another sleepless night. He was so tired, so very tired. But he didn't know what to do.

He pondered about everything in his life, thanks to his lack of sleep, alone but with someone in bed.

Two people shouldn't share a bed if both hadn't agreed that they wanted to share a bed, right? Even if they did nothing apart from sleeping. Or not sleeping, in his case.

His bedmate was truly handsome. And cute as well. And oh so complicated. In his sleep, he said stuff sometimes. Funny stuff, or things that made him a little angry. Whenever he heard him talk in his sleep, tough, his bedmate always seemed to be dreaming about him. But he said "wimp" a lot more than "Yuuri".

That was funny, for a time. Then it was a little bothersome. Now, he was just so tired.

Yuuri smiled a little. He wondered how he could break the engagement without damaging Wolfram's reputation. That was all he needed to do. For both of them, it would be better. He had considered asking for Murata's, his other best friend, help, but Murata would probably have laughed at him, and Yuuri did not think there was anything to laugh about.

Fortunately, there were always important matters, a lot of papers to sign, many many things to do, when one was king, so he thought he was doing a good job at hiding how tired, and frustrated, and sad he was.

He had considered talking to Conrad as well, but his "godfather" being Wolfram's brother, he didn't want to jeopardize what little progress they had made by implicating him in his mess.

Their mess, he corrected himself.

Because Wolfram didn't help, really. He was so damn stubborn!

He had changed, however. They both had. But not enough, he guessed.

He ran a trembling hand in his black hair with another sigh. No point in brooding on things he couldn't change just now. He wasn't going to have any sleep, and he had to stop thinking.

His head hurt a little, his heart ached. He had to get the hell away from the blond ex-prince, because if he didn't, he'd think again and again, and eventually, he would reach the same conclusion as he always did. And he hated it. Because he trusted Wolfram. He really did.

After a few minutes, he was out of his... their room, on his way to the kitchen. Some guards were surprised to see him. After all, it was the middle of the night, and they wondered why their king was up and clothed. He offered a tired smile to most of them as he headed to the kitchen, grabbed some scones, made tea and went to his office. He hated paperworks, before. Now he found there wasn't enough of it, and he had to find other matters to attend to when he was finished. Some time ago, he didn't even read it, trusting Gwendal to give him only things he would approve of.

Gradually, still approving some stuff, putting some other aside to be advised by Gwendal or Gunther, he saw the light of day coming trough the window. Gwendal would arrive soon. He would not say a word, but question him with his eyes for a few seconds, and then he would start working. Because Yuuri was not going to talk about the stuff that bothered him with the stern man. He wouldn't be interested anyway.

He liked Gwendal. Things were simple with him. He just had to do his part, signing stuff, and the man would be ok. He just wasn't the type who'd ask about private matters. He respected privacy, a thing Yuuri loved, since that was very rare in this castle.

The maids had bets going about every relationships they could see or imagine. The guards snickered when Wolfram accused him of being a cheater. Greta wanted her fathers to get along but wanted a mother as well. Yozak, Murata, and even Shinou, though the two latter weren't -thankfully- in the castle, most of the time, seemed to find funny every little thing that made him look clueless, or a fool, or... whatever they thought was good to laugh at him.

Gunter seemed jealous of Wolfram, and Wolfram seemed jealous of _every single being_, as long as Yuuri did so much as... look, talk, smile, or anything. Yuuri sometimes thought Wolfram was even jealous of the small knitted animals Gwendal had given him. After all, he _did_ pat and hug them, surely, it _was_ cheating...

Conrad had this smile. He loved Conrad's smile. It made him feel safe, loved, sheltered, even. But Conrad smiled nearly every freaking second. He was smiling just seconds after some soldier had chopped off his arm.

Yuuri shuddered.

He put his face in his palms and rubbed his eyes.

He was tired, alright.

He loved every one in the castle. Well that was, he thought, if he knew every one. He wasn't sure about that, there were so many people looking after him here, it was scary. He didn't ask for it, but he'd felt responsible for everyone's well being since the beginning, when he first arrived in this place, and that had not changed, even though _he_ had.

He wanted them to be happy.

He wanted to be a good king, because they deserved a good king.

He still made a lot of mistakes, he knew it, though. He tried, he made the best he could, but he felt it was not enough. He had to be better. They had avoided war, till now, but it had been sheer luck.

Massaging his temples, he heaved a long sigh.

What was it they loved so much about war anyway? He was seen as a fool most of the time just because he didn't want to even consider the possibility of his people going to war. So, he always tried to find another way, how could _that_ be stupid? Even if it was dangerous for him, sometimes, wasn't that what he was here for? He had to spare his people, that's what a good king should do, of that, he was convinced.

Even if Wolfram didn't agree.

And the others didn't.

He felt lonely. He was followed, obeyed, well looked-after, but he felt he didn't give a choice to his people. Even though his fiancé was the one called selfish by most people, he felt he was selfish as well, for when it really mattered, he didn't listen to anyone, did he?

He trusted Wolfram just as he trusted the rest of his people. No this wasn't true. He trusted Wolfram more.

The only person he didn't really trust was himself.

He had dozed off, at some point, because when he opened his eyes, Gwendal was writing something not far from him, and near the door, Conrad concerned face was smiling at him.

"Good morning Your M-" Yuuri shot him a tired glance, brows furrowed.

"Would you remind me who gave me my name?" Conrad smiled.

"I did, Yuuri."

"Good morning", replied the Maou, with a smile.

Gwendal nodded.

"I came here early", he said. He sent his king a suspicious glare, glanced at his brother, shrugged and resumed working.

Yuuri shrugged as well and smiled. On his desk, new paperwork had appeared. Hurray!

"Maybe you should take a breakfast break, You... Yuuri."

"I took one, earlier, thanks." smiled the Maou. And he started working.

Some time later, he ignored Gunter (mostly, as in he smiled, said hello, and let the man hug him), and said hello to Wolfram, who since he entered the room had been staring at him, then at Conrad, and then again at him, frowning, but visibly concerned.

Yuuri had just sighed.

He felt better, way better than he did earlier, and even though he still had some things to figure out, he was glad to be with people he loved. For he loved the three brothers, not all in the same way, though, and he loved Gunter as well (though he would never say it because he feared what the lilac-haired man would do).

"Hungry...", he said, eventually.

"Of course, you are, it's past noon, wimp. Let's go", said his fiancé. He opened the door, and let his brothers and Gunter go first, stopping Yuuri by grabbing his forearm. Yuuri watched him with a confused look, which turned to puzzled when Wolfram closed the door, keeping them inside.

"Wolf?"

The blond boy watched him through narrowed eyes for a few seconds.

"I don't care if you choose to talk about... whatever it is with Conrad. But you have to talk about it, obviously. Do it." He was answered with a warm smile, and he reddened, before following his brothers, still waiting for Yuuri.

Wolfram walked slowly, avoiding to look at his fiancé. He hated this. He didn't want Yuuri to talk to Conrad. Wasn't his fiancé aware that he could, _should_ talk about everything with him?

But Yuuri had been... off... since days, now, and Wolfram simply couldn't take it anymore. Yuuri was a wimp, alright, but if things bothered him enough for him to actually _look for_ more paperwork, it wasn't good. He had tried to ask, but Yuuri had always said he was fine, when they both knew that wasn't the truth. It pained him. He just wanted to help his fiancé. Even after he'd called him a wimp, thrown some tantrums, in hope that Yuuri would let out what he had in mind on him, Yuuri said he was fine: he had failed.

He hated failure. But he was a man enough to admit it, and even if it really, really pissed him of, he could understand that it would be easier for Yuuri to talk with Conrad. Yuuri or anyone, for that matter. He admitted he wasn't exactly the patient type. Still. He hated it.

Absent-mindedly, he hoped his men would be in great shape. They'd need it.

Yuuri nibbled slowly, offering smiles to everyone around the table.

He enjoyed the meals they all took together. It felt like family, when he was homesick. He'd miss his mother's antics, but Cecilie reminded him of her. And Conrad, being as a godfather to him, acted sometimes like his father, and sometimes like a good-days-Shouri. He didn't miss Shouri that much, most of the time, though.

But Wolfram was right, he needed to talk. It always surprised him, the way Wolfram seemed to read him easily, even when he tried to hide things. Then again, he could read through Wolfram just as easily, most of the time. At other times, he just didn't understand him at all. Wolfram was his friend. His best friend. You can't spend most of your time with someone without becoming friends, at least. But Yuuri couldn't follow him most of the time. His blond friend's mind had to be linked to his element, for Wolf was unpredictable but could be focused, dangerous but warm, a light that could show the way just as it could destroy.

And he was beautiful.

So very beautiful.

So the black-haired boy couldn't understand what someone like him would see in someone as plain, common as he was.

Then again, what was common for a Japanese teen was special here, in Shin Makoku. Unique. Which bothered him. He'd always been sort of _as every one_, blending in, just as was expected from a Japanese teen. He'd thought he'd find a boring job, marry a woman not really pretty, but not really ugly, and they'd have two kids.

And he was now a king.

A Maou, unique, with specials powers he didn't understand himself.

He'd never seen himself in what some people called "his Maou self". Wolfram said he was a lot less wimpy, when he changed that way. He felt it, inside him, a power that was his, yet a power he had no control over. That made him feel useless, which he had to admit, he was, most of the time. The thought had been nagging him for some time now, that maybe, Wolfram loved his Maou self, and that he just stayed with his normal self waiting for the real Maou to come out. But that power was his. So it was kinda the same.

Or not. After all, Wolfram hated weaknesses. Weak people he despised. Well, not exactly despised, but still... Why would he love a wimp? Why would anyone?

Or he loved feeling useful. In a way, Yuuri felt Conrad loved that. Maybe that was the same for Wolfram. He loved loving a wimp, and in fact, it wasn't loving him really.

Or he just pretended, out of duty and pride.

Or maybe he had talked too much with Shouri and some of the things he'd said made him think just a little too much for his liking. And Shouri, with all his experience with dating sims just knew a lot of the questions a girl would ask herself. He wondered if now he asked himself the same questions a girl would. He frowned.

He thought about a conversation they had had some days ago.

Hypocrite. His brother had said he was one. And maybe he was right. Shouri had spend very little time in Shin Makoku, but he was smart, Yuuri had to admit it. And he was observant.

And since all his family had met the three sons of the 26th Maou, and that Shin Makoku was now the world where Yuuri spent most of his time, the king spoke about it a lot, and Shouri was always eager to learn stuff, probably in hope that Yuuri would need help... And their mother had almost adopted Wolfram...

So they spoke about him as well.

A lot.

So Shouri had observed that Wolfram had changed. His relationship with Conrad was better, he was glad about that, because what had caused his mean behaviour towards his half-brother was that Conrad was half-human.

So, Shouri had said, are you, Yuuri.

And Wolfram hated that when they first met, which had caused the mess. But he had grown. He had changed, and Shouri said that it wasn't all that different from Yuuri's situation. Marriages between full mazoku and human were taboo in most parts of this world, just as homosexual relationships were taboo in Japan. So if Wolfram had learned to go past his prejudices, what about Yuuri? Especially since he'd repeated how he found it stupid that people wouldn't be able to love one another just because of race. Was that this much different when one spoke about gender?

So Yuuri had just munched on his lower lip for some time, before asking his brother what he would feel if out of the blue, he found himself engaged to a man, no matter how beautiful, that he'd met a few hours earlier.

Shouri being his annoying self just answered that _now,_ they knew each other well.

How he hated it, when his brother was right.

But still. He had nothing against men dating other men. Or women dating women, for that matter. The latter his brother loved especially, he knew, and in Yuuri's mind, that was more homophobic than what he felt. He liked Wolfram alright, and if Wolfram liked men, then he was okay with it, really. But he couldn't be expected to turn gay just because of a mistake, could he?

Shouri had said he didn't know what Yuuri was, since he had not tried anything. So that meant he had to try right? But if he didn't try girls, how would he know for sure he didn't like them? He sure found some cute. And he liked breasts. He reddened. And he couldn't picture himself doing anything that involved 2 penises.

He turned redder.

He had had to admit to his brother that he didn't really picture himself really with a girl either. He had felt ashamed, about that. Really. It was weird. Or that was just because he had not really thought about it, since for most of his time, he'd been obsessed with baseball and never really had taken time to think about it.

Shouri had shrugged and said perhaps he wouldn't have thought about it at all if he'd never left Japan, because that was something most people there found disgusting, and because it was easier, to appear normal, many people just let themselves be miserable, lead a "normal" life with a wife and 2 children, since that was what Japanese teens were expected to want. When Yuuri thought about it, he found this as stupid as the problem between humans and mazoku, really.

So. Maybe he would just have to think about it, and he would discover that he was gay (which he wasn't anyway, since he liked girls), one day, and everything would still be complicated because that wasn't the only thing that bothered him in the whole situation.

But one matter at a time, he'd thought.

He admitted he thought Wolfram was really beautiful, as an angel, breathtakingly beautiful. Most Mazoku were beautiful, in fact. Gunther had been a model, Wolfram's squadron was composed of several great looking boys, really, even the American football guy, Adalbert was beautiful, he thought. Every mazoku women he'd met were as well.

So that was that. Not really helpful. So he'd had to download some stuff to watch, and really, he had not been this aroused, _really_, either with hetero or gay stuff. And then he'd tried to picture him doing these things, with Wolfram, and it had felt weird, but not gross really. And he had found he couldn't picture himself doing stuff with any woman he knew, except Elisabeth. Who happened to look like Wolfram a lot. So maybe he was gay after all.

Or maybe he should try again with Elisabeth, since she didn't love Wolf anymore. But event if he never had a girlfriend himself, there was a rule, between guys. And she was kind of Wolfram's ex-girlfriend, sort of, and Wolf was his friend, so he would never try anything with her!

During his time in Shin Makoku, he'd seen guys kissing in streets and balls, so it didn't bother him all that much anymore. Though he wouldn't like to do stuff in front of people, with a girl _or a guy_, he felt that was private stuff.

So that was it, he could be gay. He wasn't, really, but he could be. So let's say he was, even if it wasn't really true.

Now, did he love Wolfram had been another matter. But his real problem was Wolfram's feelings. Because you couldn't just ask a guy what he feels, really about _you_, now, could you?

And Wolfram was so misleading! Sometimes, he thought the blond boy hated him. Sometimes, he felt loved. He knew they were real friends, but he was also his king. Wolfram, since he'd admitted that Yuuri was the real Maou, just after their duel, had started acting as his fiancé.

Which felt weird.

Either it was love at first sight, and _clearly_, it was not, or he wouldn't have tried to kill him after the proposal, or you learned to know someone and _then_ you fell in love. As he had, he thought. Maybe.

Because he had needed some time to grow used to the Wolfram, really, and what he had found annoying in his behaviour had become endearing, _really_, and he just had to be a little masochist, because he found it cute, sometimes, when Wolf called him a wimp.

_But_ Wolfram had behaved like his fiancé since the moment he had been beaten. By the Maou's power. And the thing Yuuri really didn't like about Wolfram's way of being a fiancé was his jealousy. It was fun, sometimes, but just a little would be enough. He thought Wolfram trusted the Maou as his king. Maybe he even trusted his "wimpy self", about that. But as far as a relationship, private, was concerned, Wolfram didn't trust him at all. So it couldn't be love, right? It was strange, how everything he did seemed to piss off his friend, really.

He sighed, plopping a piece of chicken in his mouth. It was cold, and looking around the table, he found he was alone with Conrad.

"Huh? Where's every one?

"You've been lost in thoughts for some time, now", his Godfather smiled.

"Oh." Yuuri arched a brow. Wolfram had left without throwing a tantrum about how he was a bad fiancé ignoring him like that. Strange.

"It's cold", Yuuri said, with a sheepish smile." I'm not hungry anymore, anyway... Baseball?"

Conrad just smiled and got up, waiting for him.

They were silent for some time, and started throwing the ball.

"So?"

"Yeah?"

"If you feel like talking, I'll be listening. And if you don't feel like talking for long, you can make a digest while you digest!" Conrad said, with a large smile. Yuuri chuckled. Lame.

"Dunno. I'm not really sure what it's all about."

"So... It's not about what?"

"Hmm... Paperworks."

"Yes, you seem to never get enough of it, these days, Your... Yuuri. What else is going well?"

"Hmm well. It's linked to paperworks, but... I feel Gwendal trusts me a little more about it, am I right?" Conrad nodded and caught the ball. He paused, asking his next question before throwing it again.

"I'm assuming it isn't about being a king at all, then?"

"Sort of... I guess. I don't really know."

"You've been... sleeping less. And even less in your room," Stated the taller man.

Yuuri shrugged.

"I think maybe... I just think too much."

"Happens a lot to people in love."said the older man with a knowing smile.

Yuuri missed the ball. He cocked his head at his Godfather, who found this cute.

"You think I am?"

"You don't?"

"Dunno... sort of... I guess I...I have no idea,"finished the king. He opened his mouth, then closed it. Twice. Conrad just smiled, waiting patiently, while Yuuri went to look for the ball.

"I mean... I'm too young to get married, right?"

"You don't have to do it now. And you don't have to do it at all, if it isn't your wish."

"But it's been so long..."

"I'd say that was not entirely your fault. Besides, you live as a demon now, and it's not even been two years. It's not this much. But how is this "sort of linked" to being the king?"

"Well... It's like... We don't have a choice. Both of us."

"Still, you're sort of in love as well?"

"As?" Yuuri stopped altogether. "Sort of " as well? Or " In love"? " as well?

He had no idea what Conrad was asking about. He had no clear answer for any of these questions anyway.

He chose to think about himself, for once. "I'm not... I think. How would I know? You thought I was, right? I mean... am."

"Well... As much as I like helping you, I'm not sure I should influence on... But one knows when he is generally speaking... Though it's easier when... well...errr" He insisted to make it sound like his name, which Yuuri ignored altogether.

"With acts, I suppose, Your Majesty. Not that I'm advising you to do anything of the sort... Gwendal would kill me. " He said, eventually, after the ball had been thrown a few times.

"I don't think I... " Yuuri shook his head , staring at the ball for a few seconds before throwing it. "Would someone say no to the king?" And it's Yuuri..., he thought.

"Hmm he did, didn't he?"

"But then, he didn't believe a wimp as I could really be the Maou."

"True enough. "shrugged the soldier.

"So. Would someone say no?"

"I would." Conrad smiled, and Yuuri snickered.

"Really? Weren't you willing to take me away from here and to carry me and all?"

"Still willing. Though as long as you smile, I don't mind where we are, and I like it here, most of the time", replied his Godfather with a larger smile, eyeing their surroundings. It felt good, and Yuuri almost called him brother again, which really happened more often with Conrad than with Shouri.

"So. If that was someone who wouldn't have met me _before I was born_?"

"I don't think many would, honestly. But some would say yes because of genuine feelings."

"Yeah. Some would, and others wouldn't. Got it." Yuuri launched the ball with more strength, though he still smiled.

"You're not that helpful."

"Sorry, your Majesty Yuuri."

"Right."

Conrad chuckled. The king was definitely cute. And he seemed to grow cuter with time. Which was exactly the contrary with his smaller brother. Though he would always see Wolfram as the cute child he had been, long ago. It was even easier since Wolf still behaved as a child from time to time. Maybe that was what confused Yuuri. It couldn't be helped. They both were still young, and if he'd been more bold, he may have broken something which was just beginning as that was.

After some time, Yuuri went back working, but since he'd done so much in the night and the morning, there just wasn't enough to last till diner. He grabbed a book in the library, careful not to disturb Greta too long, since she was in the middle of a lesson with Gunther (who was too glad to see him again to his taste), and went outside, near the place where Wolfram trained with his troops. Out of habit, really, since he didn't feel like talking anymore, and thinking even less.

He was reading some stuff, pretty interesting actually, about dragons, when Yozak found him.

He put the book aside and followed him, not missing the spy making a sign to his fiancé.

Soon he was in Gwendal's office, with the spy, Wolfram, Conrad, Gunther, Gwendal and a guy he'd never met.

The demon seemed older than Gwendal, though Yuuri still wasn't able to give them an age. Tall and slim, and dirty, he was. So something happened, not far enough for the use of bird, but still far enough for this man to be dirty. Now he was interested: Anything, as long as he didn't have to think.

"So what's up?" said the king, nodding to the man.

"Your majesty, Erard brings a message from Von Bielefeld."

"Uh? Uncle? What about?"

"Your Excellency, it's..." The man stopped. Wolfram, hands on his hips, had patience for more than 2 seconds. Yuuri smiled. It was a record.

"So spit it already!"

"It's about... Lord Waltorana would like you to visit... some... matter concerning your father, my Lord."

Wolfram frowned.

"What do you mean?" he asked, coldly. Gwendal massaged the bridge of his nose. Yuuri frowned as well. Wolfram never told him anything about his father. No one ever did, in fact.

"As it appears... His grave... the vault was robbed, Your Excellency." Wolfram crossed his arms, the way he did when he was uneasy, Yuuri observed. He couldn't blame him. This was vile. Gwendal watched the messenger stammer for a few seconds before sending him to rest.

No one uttered a word till the man had closed the door behind him, and Wolfram turned his glare to his older brother.

"What?" He tried to prepare himself to take things well, because judging by the thin line made by his brother's lips, there was more.

"His remains. That's what disappeared."

"Gods" said Yuuri, bringing his hand on Wolframs shoulder, feeling his shudder as he did. Wolfram clutched his fists, forging small crescents in his palms, before he shrugged Yuuri's hand away to go near the wall. He slammed his right fist hard on the wall twice, and as Yuuri was about to say something, he felt his godfathers hand on his forearm. The man shook his head, with a grim expression. Wolfram composed himself a little better thanks to the pain in his fist, and turned to his brother.

"He said it was about my father. The others?"

"It seems others tombs were opened, but yes. His only. "

"Why would someone do such a thing!"finally asked Yuuri, hugging himself with one arm.

Wolfram's scowl met his innocent gaze, and not a second later, Wolfram was informing his brother he was going. His tone made it clear that he wasn't asking and that he wasn't delaying either.

"I'm coming with you", said his oldest brother.

"Of course, you are. We're all coming", said Yuuri, and before Wolfram was able to say no, he was out of the room to get ready. "Gunther, you're in charge" yelled Yuuri on his way. The lilac-haired man, for once, said nothing, even though he'd thought about wailing about how he wasn't included in them. The room emptied slowly, till he was alone with the youngest of the three brothers.

Wolfram seldom thought about his father, and he hated being reminded of him in such a hideous way. He wanted Yuuri to stay here. He wasn't sure, if he found the scum who did this, that he'd be able not to fry him. No, really, that was more... he was sure he _would_ fry him.

He could only hope Yuuri wouldn't be there.

Gunther had been trying to find something to say, but the selfish loafer was gone before he found something which would not seem stupid. What could someone say about such a thing?


	2. Chapter 2

Disc: kkm's not mine.

_Rule N°2: Never feed a zombie after midnight._

Changes there too. There should be a lot less mistakes, and hopefully, I'll find a beta reader soon ^^ 

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><p>In the carriage, Yuuri was alone with Wolfram, who wasn't happy at all about the fact that Yuuri didn't want them to go on horse. Their horses were coming along though, and he knew it could be useful. But Wolfram's uncle's lands were more than half a day away, and Yuuri didn't want Wolfram to fight refusing to stop. In there, he would doze off, eventually, and it would be easier for him to cope with such a situation. Gwendal agreed it was safer for the Maou, and that way they wouldn't have to stop and still have their brains when they'd have reached their destination, even if it wasn't <em>that<em> far.

That was exactly why Yuuri had suggested it in the first place, but the idea, as always, was better when it wasn't one of his.

He shook his head. Now was not the time for this, he was there for Wolfram.

"I'm..."

"Sorry?" guessed Wolfram, still scowling.

"Pretty much, yeah. I really don't know what I could say. Though if you want to ... talk about..." He stopped talking. Wolfram was furious. He'd been rubbing his fist since he'd jumped inside, and whenever he stopped scowling, he would gaze out, with a strange expression on his face. He seemed almost... vulnerable. Fragile. Which wasn't something he'd ever looked before, as far as the young king could remember.

Yuuri fidgeted for a while, watching outside, as night fell.

" Is it ok if... If I do the talking?" Wolfram arched an elegant eyebrow.

Then he shrugged. Yuuri sighed, and took his hand, to heal his reddened fist. It wasn't really wounded, but he just had to do something to show he cared.

He was no fool, Wolfram had almost crossed his arms defensively when he had asked, as if saying "You did not tell me about what was bothering you, why should I?"

He didn't let go of his hand and started talking about some nonsense. He'd wanted to talk the book he had been reading, but he remembered Pochi. Had Wolfram said they were his parents as well? He seemed to do that with every cute thing they encountered, now he thought about it. He was Gwendal's brother, that figures, he thought, repressing a smile. He couldn't remember.

He'd wanted to talk about Greta, but again, reminding him that he was a father was not a very smart idea, he felt. Nothing involving parenthood, fathers or even family. Or death or graves, but he couldn't see him wanting to talk about that. So he chatted about work instead. His lessons, stuff he didn't really understand, and stuff he found really weird, and hearing a shriek he found scary outside, they spoke for a while about sounds made by animals here and on earth. They even chuckled a little, remembering a closet on a ship, where he had tried to imitate a cat and ended up imitating some monster instead. How a "meow"could be frightening, he still had no idea.

After a while, Yuuri finally decided to shut up. Wolfram sighed. It had been nice, but he knew Yuuri was doing this to prevent him from thinking about his father, and it was a cowardly thing to do. And Wolfram was no coward, he told himself.

He wasn't frightened, as Yuuri seemed to think he should be, either. Sure, it brought up memories, or rather, pinpointed their absence, because he did not remember a thing about his father. His mother had told him he was like his father, especially his temperament was. But it wasn't as if he missed him or anything, he told himself.

But he was pissed. He had rarely been this furious, in fact, and though he knew he had a bad temper, his outbursts were linked to things that bothered him. He just lost it a little, yelled, or fought, and he was done with it. And he felt better after that. He had never felt ire to the point of thinking he had, seriously, to kill someone. He had killed, of course, he was a soldier, but he never _wanted_ that. It was duty, and killing or being killed, it was not a real issue.

But now, and since he felt things differently, for he hanged out a little too much with his wimp, it bothered him: He was furious, and he felt cold, rationalizing his feelings about this, and at the same time, knowing it felt wrong.

He sighed, watching Yuuri. He had stopped talking because he had dozed of.

"What a wimp!" Wolfram thought, with a tiny smile.

And just like that, watching his king and fiancé sleeping, he felt better, and a lot less angry. He took one of the covers, folded near Yuuri and put it on his king, careful not to wake him up, though, he guessed, if the road didn't, he should be fine, really. He caressed his fiancé's cheek lightly and sat back.

Stealing a corpse. His father's corpse. Well if there still was one, since that corpse was... well as old as he was, he thought. Which was unnerving. He shivered. No one was watching him so that was ok. He shook his head lightly, and turned on his seat. After a while, he followed his king in a dreamless sleep.

He woke up a few hours later, not feeling rested at all. He watched Yuuri sleeping for some time, listening to check if he had woken up because of something outside. But there was nothing special to hear: the sound of horses, the sounds of night, that was all.

A couple hours later, the coach stopped, abruptly, and he caught Yuuri before he fell completely. So there he was, arms under his king's armpits, half-sitted with Yuuri on one knee in front of him. Yuuri awakened by the sudden stop and his fall was half awake, one of his hands on Wolfram's shoulder, while the other was gripping the front of the ex-Prince's scarf.

And Conrad chuckled, when he opened the door. Yuuri had just had the time to raise his head to Wolfram, asking if he was ok.

So the chuckling Conrad had seen his precious godson between his precious brother's parted legs, and they where staring at each other, as if time had stopped, after Yuuri's question. He just didn't know which one he'd have to scold. At least, they were fully clothed, but... was it just the sudden stop, or they had been doing... something. He'd ask Yozak, who was driving the coach, if he's heard anything.

Murata Ken's head popped on the side of the open door, and he grinned, pushing his glasses with one finger.

"Score, Shibuya! Didn't think you had it in you!"

"M-Murata? What the hell are you doing here, anyway?" The two red-faced boys in the coach straightened up and moved from each both looked flustered but curious as well. Or rather, in Wolfram's case, suspicious.

"I just wanted to travel for some time. I've not been very far from you all this way. So now, I'd like to sit, even if we'll arrive soon." said Murata, before entering. He sat near Yuuri, who yawned sleepily.

"Shibuya?"

"Huuuh?"yawned the king.

"Could you sit with Lord Von Bielfeld? My legs are killing me, I'll use both seats, if you don't mind." said the Great Sage, with a small smile. Yuuri shrugged and sat near Wolfram, yawning again. He fell asleep again after just a few minutes and with a muttered "Wimp", Wolfram covered him again.

Murata was glad to be able to stretch his legs comfortably, even if he also wanted to have some fun with the other two. A smile appeared again on his face, as Yuuri used Wolfram as a pillow in his sleep. Wolfram's reddened face and the glare he sent him were the kind of things he enjoyed.

"What's this all about?" asked Wolfram, careful not to raise his voice too much.

"What do you mean?"

"The wimp would have asked, if he'd not been half-asleep. Why are you here, Sage?"

"I thought things could be interesting soon. When I have that kind of feeling, I follow Shibuya, as he seems to attract danger."

Wolfram snorted. Nothing had ever been this true.

"So you've nothing to do with this? You or _him_?" asked the blond boy.

"Nothing. And he hates feeling left out, I'm sure he's jealous right now, since he's not able to come."

Wolfram frowned. He didn't know well the Great Sage, and though he had revered him and Shinou in the past, and still did, mostly, he also distrusted them.

If the Sage was here, there was something fishy. Well, even more so than he had first thought.

Of course, he knew there was something fishy from the start, but he had not expected something that would raise the interest of those two. Which maybe meant...

"What do you know that we don't?"

"Oh... So many things, I wouldn't be able to tell you in one life." smiled the Sage. Wolfram cursed himself silently.

"You know what I mean."he spat through gritted teeth.

"That I do," answered the Sage. Pissing of Lord Von Bielefeld was always fun. And easy.

Wolfram scowled. As expected, the Sage wouldn't tell him anything useful. There was no point in trying, because he was sure, and from time to time felt like doing it, only force and torture would make him talk. But Yuuri would be upset. A pity really. Yuuri has reasons to be mad at these two as well.

So all he could do now was think or sleep. They would arrive soon, but since his king slept, there was no reason why he shouldn't. Even though the king was a wimp and he wasn't. And despite the fact he was no wuss, he didn't want to think about all this. He needed to know more, else he would reach conclusions that made no sense. Maybe that was what the Sage was doing as well.

After a last suspicious look at the Sage, who was staring at Yuuri and him, smiling, he let himself drift off to sleep.

As the carriage entered the Von Bielfeld's domain, a low branch was hit, and and bird flew away. Yuuri awoke hearing "Baaad Omen Baaad Omen!"

He rubbed his eyes, lifting his head from the shoulder it had been on. He blushed a little, and a little more when his gaze met Murata's. He heard Wolfram grumble "wimp" near him, and smiled.

"I thought I had dreamt... What are you doing here?" Yuuri asked, with a curious looked at the other double-black. Wolfram fumed.

"What do you mean? You dream about _him_? Are you serious?" Murata chuckled lightly.

"Oh, really, Shibuya, I never thought..."

"Stop that!" Yuuri turned to an angry Wolfram."I just didn't understand why he would show up in the middle of nowhere, so I thought that was a dream, there's nothing to be... It's not that... Whatever. So, Murata?"

The Sage pushed his glasses up while Wolfram mumbled something about cheating wimps, crossing his arms.

"I'm afraid we'll have to postpone this discussion. We'll be there in a few moments, and it's not a pressing matter anyway. I just wanted to come along."

Yuuri didn't look convinced and promised himself he'd get answers later, but Murata was right, the carriage was slowing, and soon, it stopped. Conrad opened the door, and Yuuri resisted the urge to stretch, as Wolfram would have said it was a very unkingly thing to do.

Waltorana welcomed him, the Sage and finally his nephew, taking him in a very brief hug before putting his hand on the blond head, with a large smile.

"You should visit more, I've missed you."

"Sorry, uncle. I..."

Since he stopped there, Yuuri cleared his throat.

"I agree, he and I should as well. I'm just very sorry to be here under this kind of circumstances." Waltorana nodded, and led them inside. Though the sun wouldn't rise before a few hours, Waltorana was clothed and very awake, more than Yuuri felt he was at least, but he seemed tired. Strained, even. So everybody went inside, and Conrad, Gwendal, Murata, Wolfram and Yuuri joined Waltorana for an early breakfast. The guards, five of Gwendal's and five of Wolfram's men were taken to another room, while Yozak disappeared, as he always did.

Eyeing the food, Yuuri thought they should wait to talk about the reason they were here. He wouldn't be able to eat while talking about such things. So he started eating a little too fast, just in case Wolfram would act like he always did. Which happened after his first sip of tea.

"Uncle, what exactly happened? I..."

"Wolfram." The older Bielefeld eyed his nephew with a sad smile. "We're working on it, and we all should be eating while we can. Then I'll take you to the vault. This is not something we should talk about while at table." Wolfram frowned and crossed his arms. He didn't feel like eating, and he wanted answers. He glanced around the table and sighed. Of course, he had slept, and had been in the carriage. He was being selfish again. Well he had every right to be just now, really... Fuming, he ate some pastries.

Yuuri smiled a little, observing his fiancé. He was sure he knew what exactly went through this blond head of his. He sipped his tea again, and complimented Waltorana about his domain. He'd been there only once. He eyed Wolfram again. The ex-prince had fled the castle to try to change Waltorana's mind about the new Maou. He had challenged Yuuri for the crown, and when he had sent fireballs, Yuuri wouldn't believe Wolfram would betray him. It _had_ to be a joke.

And as he was hurt, barely staying up on his shaking legs, and saw several beautiful fire lions coming to him, he still didn't believe it.

He wasn't sure, but he thought that was the first time he remembered clearly what he had done while on his "Maou mode". He had understood Wolfram was not only ready to die to save his life. He'd know this for some time already. But Wolfram had been ready to die for him to be a good king, and to protect beliefs he didn't seem to share, at that time. And that was different than just being ready to jump in front of a flying bullet for someone. Wolf was not only devoted to him, be even to what he believed in, so even though some people still called him "selfish", Yuuri knew it was just the opposite.

_He_ didn't want Yuuri to feel responsible for any problems that may have arisen from _him_ being a noble. He had looked so serene, as Yuuri had finally used his powers to protect himself and counter-attack out of a reflex. Those words, he heard them again whenever he doubted himself. It helped a lot, it gave him strength, because if someone as strong, and dedicated as Wolfram believed this much in him, he had to try as well. Try, because in spite of everything, it was a hard thing to do, for him.

Fortunately, Wolfram was always there to remind him when it wasn't enough. He hoped this would never, ever change.

Murata's chuckle got him out of his trance, and he turned his eyes to him. He had stared at Wolfram for a while, he guessed, then, because every one was looking at him, some with frowns, some with smiles, and Wolfram was blushing.

"Sorry... I was thinking about our last visit..." smiled the king. Murata smiled at him, casting a knowing glance at Wolfram who raised a thin eyebrow.

"I thought so. Reminiscences like these hit me like this from time to time as well."

"Yeah, well..." He wasn't sure what exactly what his friend was talking about. "So are we done eating? I am, anyway." Waltorana nodded.

"I don't have a lot to say. We found the locks broken yesterday morning. The tombs were opened, all of them, but the remains are still there, except for one."

"Riches?" asked Murata.

"Everything seems to be there. Really, the only thing taken was his..." he glanced at Wolfram, who was still and pale as a... corpse, Yuuri thought, shuddering."... body. They must have been at least two, tombs like these are too old and heavy for just one man to open in so little time. I wouldn't expect grave robbers to be respectful, of course, but they really desecrated everything in there. Tombs parts were broken, as were some of... the others bodies. They were looking for something, I guess, and weren't sure where it was. Or who it was, maybe."

"I'm not..." Wolfram started and frowned, and Yuuri wanted to touch him, to show him he cared, and that he wouldn't be alone in this. Wolfram was not the kind of guy who hesitated easily."He's been... dead for a long time now. What remains are we talking about?"

Yuuri frowned. He didn't know anything about funeral rites in his kingdom, and he didn't really want to know. It would mean someone died, and he really did not want that to happen. Waltorana coughed.

"Well" He appeared uneasy about this, and glanced at Wolfram's brothers, but they didn't show anything, thought Yuuri."He must be dried... hum... in one piece, though. Difficult to hide, if that's what you're asking. It's not been enough time for him to be only bone, I mean."

"It's not that." said Wolfram. He glared to Murata." Was he a key, before I was? I don't see what else could..."

Murata watched him for some time, his glasses gleaming in the candles light.

"You were wondering if he still has a heart, then. Smart, " smiled the Sage. "It's true, I guess, he was a key, and you became one when he died." Wolfram nodded. He expected this. He couldn't think about anything else, that would be interesting about a dead body, and though he tried not to, he often thought about what had happened to him. When the Sage showed up, he thought that was really what they wanted. So he didn't know what to think when the Sage continued.

"But if someone was after the key, you're the one who'd have disappeared, Lord Von Bielfeld."

Yuuri frowned. He didn't like this, well, even less than before.

"There's nothing left in the boxes, though?" asked Conrad. Yuuri sighed, seeing him clutching his arm. Gwendal had a thoughtful look and was rubbing his left eye, while Wolfram has one hand near his heart. This was over, he didn't want his friends to go trough this again.

"No, your keys wouldn't be useful for that." Yuuri frowned.

"For something else, they could? What does this mean Murata?" His friend cocked his head.

"I don't think they could be used as anything else than an arm, an eye, and a heart. And your blood."

Yuuri frowned.

"What about what once was a key?" asked Wolfram. Gwendal nodded.

"Should we look for those who were keys before Conrad and I? Is there still some sort of power in their remains?" Murata's lips made a thin line.

"I can't be sure of anything yet. We should find the body, and I'd like to look in the vault."

"Murata..." He just shook his head.

"I don't think this is linked to the keys at all. But it's as a good guess as any, so we should keep it in mind. Still, we shouldn't reach any sort of conclusion with so little. Maybe seeing the vault will help." With a sigh, Murata took his glasses to clean them, and Yuuri nodded, eventually.

"To the vault, then, Waltorana, if you please..."

"I have seen enough of it already... Come..."

And off they went. Waltorana led them outside, Wolfram giving them some light with a fireball.

Yuuri couldn't help himself, he said aloud what he thought about that: It was so great and useful, like having a personal sun. Which earned him knowing glances he didn't quite understand, and he raised his eyebrows as the light faltered and then shone brighter. He thought about it: It was true, Wolfram never needed a lamp or anything, he just had to use his power, so in a world without electricity, it was as if Wolfram controlled his own personal sun. He didn't see what there was to smile about.

Wolfram was already tense, and that comment... Had Yuuri just compared him to the sun? That wimp... How could he say something like that with every one around! He lost his concentration just a second and focused. He was smiling and his heart felt lighter as they approached the vault.

Waltorana asked the two guard to open for them. Yuuri expected something gloomy, with gargoyles and stuff, but it was a nice small building, decorated with lots of flowers, and encircled with a huge railing, with on the front a massive iron gate. And except the gate, vine and other climbing plants hit nearly all the bars. It was a really beautiful place. As they passed the gate, though, the gloomy things he expected showed up: The massive wood doors that lead to the vault itself were engraved, obviously, it was a very old place, and something made him shudder. He couldn't see exactly what the wood cut depicted, but he thought in the middle was the Von Bielefeld emblem. The doors were opened, and a narrow but long stairway led down. Gloomy.

He couldn't see the bottom, as the sun wasn't up yet, but the fireball was large enough for them to see where their feet were going. Conrad and Murata lit torches to the fireball anyway.

It wasn't a really long stairway, but it felt long to Yuuri who was thinking he had seen too many horror movies. He should have expected the sound of something he thought was rats. He hoped it was only rats. He shook himself. If he was in something, he was in a fantasy movie, not an horror movie, so everything was fine. Still, he walked close behind Conrad.

They finally reached a large room which smelled like an old library, only there was something more. A smell of old things, and Yuuri guessed, of old death. He remembered the death chamber he "visited" with Sara. Raising an eyebrow, he wondered when was the last time he'd thought about him. He just shrugged, unable to remember. But what he had felt that day... It was different. Probably because they were pursued, or maybe because he'd felt something strange, when in Sara's company. Sara was so beautiful, really like a girl. A very beautiful one. Glancing towards a mop of blond hair, several feet in front of him, he thought Sara could almost rival Wolf with his stunning looks. Almost... But Wolfram was just more... something. More warm, maybe.

He shook himself, looking around him. He didn't even realize he had followed the others in the middle of the room. And now, he was surrounded by stone tombs, big ones, at that. Alcoves all along the walls hid some more sarcophagi , except for two of those, which hid doors.

A richly decorated stone sepulcher was on top of a few stairs at the far end of the room. It took Yuuri several seconds to notice that Wolfram had most probably used his power to light all the torches in the room, probably all at once, with his great power of his. He was nearly jealous!

Most of the sarcophagi were opened, and he could see Wolfram was furious. He was as well, in fact, dead people should be left to rest in peace. Some parts of several of the stone coffins were broken, and he shuddered, seeing here and there bones, and near one of the smaller tombs, something he suspected had been someone's hair.

Now, everyone had gathered near an alcove on the right, and nervous as he was, he nearly chuckled seeing Waltorana with a handkerchief on his nose, explaining that, as they were all able to see, the coffin was empty. On his way to see this, Yuuri observed that it was not the only one.

"Of course, they are, you wimp. We're not all dead yet! Mine is somewhere there as well, you know! Though since I will marry the Maou, I guess I'll be buried with you!" said Wolfram with a large smile. Yuuri grimaced. He didn't want to think about his death, nor about Wolfram's.

"What's this face! You should be happy I'm willing to spend my death in your company!"

"D-don't say such things, it's bad luck! I don't want you to die!"Wolfram raised an eyebrow.

Yuuri had not said anything when he spoke about wedding, and now he was mentioning only Wolfram's death as being something he didn't wish to hear about? Could this mean... Wolfram's thoughts were broken as his Uncle cleared his throat. Right, maybe he did get carried away, in the vault where lain most of his ancestors. He was ill at ease, that was not really his fault...

Yuuri listened to Waltorana, still hidden behind his handkerchief, explaining that all the other rooms were visited as well, and in a worse state. His people had started working on it already, and if they found anything interesting, they would report immediately. Obviously, he wanted to go out. Yuuri couldn't blame him. He shuddered and gravitated near Wolfram. Somehow, being near someone who was able to bring light in such a grim place made everything less... scary. They observed the room for some time, and after a while, every one went out, and he sensed they all were glad to find the morning light coming to greet them at the end of the stairs. The sun was just rising, but it still was better, when one left such a place.

And now he was less uneasy, he had questions. They all stood in front of the gates, and while Conrad and Gwendal observed their surroundings to see if the grave-robbers had left some marks somewhere, Yuuri turned to Wolfram.

"So who's in the biggest one? And frankly, I have to say that it was really... lugubrious!"

Wolfram snorted.

"Rufus Von Bielefeld's. Though this one is empty as well because this place isn't the first one owned by our family. "

"I suppose the oldest graves were behind the doors?" asked Murata.

Waltorana nodded.

"Yes, the Ten Families are very old, one room wouldn't be enough. And we have one tomb for every member of the family there was. We keep records about the family in books, of course, but this helps and lasts longer."

"And every grave was opened nonetheless" wondered Murata. Yuuri cocked his head.

"But they would have found Wolfram's father among the first, right?"

"Exactly, Shibuya. It's not logical if they were after him from the start." Wolfram shrugged.

"If they were after something linked to the key, many people have been one, only my father and I were the last ones. But maybe it's not related to that at all."

Yuuri munched his lower lip. It would be scary if someone started stealing all the bodies of people who had been key.

"So maybe something was hidden there?" he asked, raising his gaze to Waltorana.

The noble man crossed his arms, and turned his gaze.

"I must say I never liked this place, Wolfram, you spend a lot more time than I in there, do you know something?" His nephew shook his head, but Yuuri and Murata both thought he was hiding something. Yuuri decided to ask Wolfram about it later, since he obviously didn't want to talk about it now. Murata didn't ask either: surprises were fun.

Conrad and Gwendal came back. Nothing in the surroundings was helpful.

Waltorana lead them to the main house again.

Yuuri hated feeling useless, but it was a feeling he experienced a lot, when in this world. But as the morning advanced, he still had nothing to do. Conrad, Gwendal and Murata were sleeping a little, since they had been up all night, riding. Wolfram went to help putting order back in the vault, and Yuuri wanted to help, but Wolfram said it was a family thing. That had hurt. They had Greta, and he thought they were a family. He should have been allowed to help. Waltorana had told them he would be away till the end of the afternoon, since he had sent the rest of his family in another manor, in case this place would be dangerous, he had to check on them, and he hoped he would have news from the men he had sent to look for the remains. So Yuuri regretted his idea of taking the carriage in the first place, because he wasn't tired at all. But had nothing to do. Except exploring the area. After all, Waltorana seemed to have sent most of the people living there away after the robbery, and those who stayed were helping in the vault. "Just family"muttered Yuuri, frowning. The servants in this place couldn't be more family to Wolfram than he was, that he knew! Or he hoped... But the truth was, he knew nothing about this side of Wolfram's family. He knew Wolfram had lived here for a while, but not when or how long. Still, maybe it was just about Wolfram's secret about the vault. Curiosity was killing him. But Wolfram was still angry, since Yuuri had insisted a lot, in front of the servants, which had led them wondering about the relationship of those two, because surely, their young master was not really speaking well to his king, even if they were engaged. So Yuuri had fled a fireball, and planned to wait a few hours. He would come back with food, his mother always said that gathering people to a meal was the best way to make peace. Which meant he had to kill time for a few hours.

He wandered in the empty manor, observing the paintings, for a while. He chuckled, thinking none of them appeared to have been Wolfram's "work". He stopped in front of one beautiful painting. He guessed it was Wolfram, looking about 5 or 6. Well, if he had been human, so probably thirty something... The child was seated on Cecilie's lap, she was exactly as the Cecilie he knew.

And just behind, a man was smiling at them. Blond and blue-eyed, the man look like Waltorana. He seemed younger, though. He assumed it was Wolfram's father, and sighed. He had finally learned Wolfram's father was dead as his son was still in his mother's womb.

It was sad, they had never been together like this. A man who never knew his son, a son who never saw his fathers smile, or heard his voice. That was depressing, and he would have liked to be able to do something.

Even now he was used to demon's aging, it was strange to think his parents weren't even born when this man died. He thought about his own father. He really was lucky.

Some time later, he was in the library. He wasn't sure he should wander everywhere alone, but since no one was there, and no one told him to stay out of some place, he guessed it was alright. The library was smaller than the one in his castle. It didn't surprise him. Gunter probably loved old books even more than he loved Yuuri himself, and that meant something! The man probably read two books a day, or something.

He found some books about the Von Bielefeld, and read for some time. Some time later, probably a few hours, he heard something behind him, and found Murata grinning at him. This didn't bode well.

"What now?"

"Tsss so distrustful! You're like this only with me, you know!"

"I'm starting to learn, so, what is it?" said Yuuri with a smile.

"Follow me." Intrigued, Yuuri followed his friend to a large study room.

"Hmmm I'm not sure..."

"C'mon, Shibuya. We are here to learn. And Waltorana isn't exactly sharing everything he knows, don't you think?" Glancing around him while Murata closed silently the door behind them, he shrugged.

"Must be a family thing."

"My, my, you're really learning! You noticed as well Wolfram's hiding something?"

"He he what did you expect? I'm his..." He stopped talking, looking at his hands instead. Murata burst out laughing when he saw how red his face was.

"Don't worry, Shibuya. It's not obvious yet, but you should know by now" he said, with a very serious look and a deep voice "I know everything!" Shibuya laughed.

"You wish!"

"Not really. I feel I already know to much, to be honest."

"I suppose that must be tiring. And boring."

Murata nodded, staring at a painting. Waltorana and a women.

"Which is why I love hanging out with you. Most of the time, you're really predictable, but you always manage to surprise me!"

"You know I never feel certain if you're insulting me or praising, right?"

"That I do" snickered the Sage. "Which is another thing I find fun."

Yuuri shook his head, smiling. It felt good. Just now, he was with Murata, the friend from Japan, the teenager. He liked the Sage as well, but sometimes, he missed his carefree friend.

"So..."

Murata raised his head, still smiling.

"You really know? I mean... what do you think you know?"

"Aaah I'm not sure, Shibuya. What do _you_ think I think I know?"

Yuuri frowned.

"Murataa..."

"Shibuyaa?"

"Geez, stop it, you know..."

"What?"he asked, too innocently.

"I hate you, that at least, I'm sure you're aware of."

Murata chuckled.

"Hmm mail. That wouldn't be polite..." said Murata, rummaging through some papers.

"Murata, that's... Put them where you found them! We shouldn't even be here!"

"Tsk, Shibuya. I wouldn't have brought you here, had I known you'd be such a spoilsport. He's right, I guess..."

"What? Who?"

"Lord Von Bielefeld."

"Waltorana? What is he right about?"

"You'd know if you read this" bluffed Murata, eyeing the letters. Of course, he thought about his fiancé as Wolfram,and not Lord Von Bielefeld. All the more fun. Yuuri frowned.

"How would you know, you haven't read them," said the king, though at his tone, Murata could tell he wasn't convinced.

"I did. Why would I bring you here if I had nothing to show?"

"Thats what you do. You guess something, and then you turn the facts enough to make us believe you knew everything all along."

"Now, now, you're making me look like some of these psychic on T. V.! Not really flattering..."

"Still, isn't that the truth?" asked the Maou, arms crossed.

Murata put the letters down. His face was sad, his voice shaken with hurt.

"T-that's what you think about me, Shibuya? Really"? He looked at his feet, his hands shaking. He looked positively defeated. Stricken with guilt, Yuuri walked to him, putting his hands on Murata's shoulders.

"No, of course not! I'm sorry Murata, I just wanted to get back at you and... Sorry, I..." He stopped, as his friends shoulders started shaking. "Murata! Come on, I... shit. You... you...I hate you!" Murata stopped repressing his laughter.

"I thought you were..."

"I... haha... I know... hahaha... You're such an easy prey, Shibuya! I was an actor twice, so it's not really your fault, I'm good."

"You... One day, I'll tell you I hate you and I WILL mean it, for real, you know..." grumbled the king. Murata laughed for a while, in the end, he took of his glasses and dried his eyes with his sleeve, before cleaning his glasses.

"Now, now, we both know you don't have it in you. You can't hate, it's not in your nature, I suppose." Yuuri frowned.

"Which means... " a devilish smile appeared on Murata's face "... I have no real reason to stop."

Yuuri wanted to find something clever to shut his friend, but finding nothing clever enough, he ended up laughing with him.

"Lord Von Bielfeld is right, but the young one, it's true. I'm such a wimp. Don't tell him... don't tell anyone I said that!"

They both resumed laughing. In the end, they were sitting side by side, back against Waltorana's desk, trying to stop laughing, but every time they looked at each other, or one of them started saying something, they were roaring with laughter again, without really knowing why, without really caring.

They felt good.

Finally, the fits of laughter ended, but left both of them in a really good mood, something they were grateful for, since none of them really loved the grim atmosphere brought by all this corpse story.

"You really don't mind, then?" The King, a boy, asked his Great Sage, a boy, head low, watching his friend from the corner of his eyes. If his best friend was ok with this, maybe... maybe he could just stop trying to convince himself it wasn't true.

Murata turned his head toward his friend, with a genuine smile.

"You're the only one _that_ fact bothered, Yuuri. And to be straight..." He paused.

"Ha. Ha. You hang out with Conrad too much."Yuuri groaned.

"Ah, I guess I'm discovered. I quote him, in fact. Some time ago, he told me "I wish they would be straight with each other, in a very not straight way." I hate to admit it, but I laughed."

"Wait, wait, wait... Conrad knows too?"

"Of course he does! He's with you all the time!"

"Crap. " He didn't help on purpose this morning, then..., thought the King.

"You worry too much. Nobody minds except you. Even your mother loves Wolfram, she's planning the wedding already!"

"I thought she was... I don't know, she was being my mother, you know..."

"Aaah mama is something, that's true. But well, really, nobody minds.

And as I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted,"at which point a playful elbow met Yuuri's ribs,"even if I did mind, what? I wouldn't be a friend it it changed anything about what I think of you, and you wouldn't be honest with yourself if that changed anything about the way you feel. In other words, I wouldn't deserve a friend like you, and you wouldn't deserve him as.. whatever you want him to be. Not at all, in fact."

Yuuri sighed.

"Great Sage alright... Makes me feel stupid..."

"Curiously enough... You're not the first person to say such a thing" smiled Murata." You're not, though. And as hard as it will be, believe me, sometimes, _you_ make me feel stupid." Yuuri eyed him, doubtful, and then smiled.

"I find _that_ very easy to believe, actually" he lied.

"Right" Murata smiled. Yuuri chuckled.

'I suppose I'll have to find something to wear for the wedding, I guess..." added Murata.

"Eh? We're not there yet, you know? And I mean... I don't think Wolfram..." Yuuri shrugged. Murata crossed his legs, frowning.

"What?"

"Well... You know how he is... I mean... I just can't tell what... I'm not even sure I...I guess he's just as confused as I am..."

Murata raised his eyebrows, still smiling. He thought the only thing preventing them from having the happily ever after was Earth's stupid prejudices, because they were so strong in Japan, and therefore in Yuuri. He should have seen his friend's low self-esteem and Wolfram's special way of showing his feelings would curb their relationship as well.

Still, they were so obvious, Murata was confident they would manage, eventually. Maybe he didn't have to show him the letter after all. And Waltorana would change his mind after seeing them together, most probably.

He decided he should let them take their time, now. After all, their biggest problem, Shibuya had solved it alone. Well with Wolfram's help, even if he wasn't aware of that, but still. It was going to be alright, and Murata felt glad for his friend. For both of them in fact.

He would just spy a little. For the greater good, of course, just in case, for they still may need a push in the right direction, from time to time, and what would be the point in having so much knowledge if he never used it to... help. Yeah, help. Yup.

"Aaah now that I think about it, that's the best part, the magic of not knowing, Shibuya. I'm a little jealous, I must say. And Lord Von Bielefeld is so cute!"

"Murata!"

"Yup. He is, though, right?"

Shyly, with a tiny smile, Yuuri nodded.

"And as full of surprises as you are. My life would be so dull without you both..."

"Stop making fun of us!"

"I could... for a price..." said the Great Sage, wiggling his eyebrows. Yuuri narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He was about to answer when he heard Conrad's voice.

"I think someone's calling your Majesty" smiled Murata with a mock bow which was even more ridiculous since he was sitting.

"Right... then I'll think about it. Your price, what is it?" asked Yuuri, standing up.

"Eh? Oh I guess I have to think about it as well. And I'm not really sure I could" finished the Sage, not really sheepishly.

Yuuri just shook his head.

"Go first, I'll put everything just as I found it." Yuuri nodded and went to the door. With a large smile, as he started to open the door, he turned to his friend.

"I missed you."

Murata looked surprised, but a matching smile appeared on his face.

"So did I."

Yuuri nodded. He knew.

He went searching for his Godfather.

He found Conrad in the library, and they went together in the kitchens. It was past noon already. They found the servants taking a well earned break from the vault and a certain young master who was very hard to please, as in good old days.

They hushed as they spotted the King, but seeing him smile, asking politely how they were, they found he was very different than what they expected. They prepared some food for him to take to Wolfram, and Conrad smiled at him, saying he'd eat there, as there wasn't enough for three in the basket anyway.

Yuuri shrugged, and went outside.

The vault was really a nice place in daylight. It looked like a very tiny house, not the home of the dead at all.

The guards greeted him politely and he smiled at them. He gave them the smallest of the two basket he had taken with him, when, before going, he had asked if they would be relieved soon. They would not be at all, in fact,since nearly every other guard were searching the domain to find anything that would lead them to the robbers. The guards were really surprised, and really grateful.

Yuuri told them to enjoy and went inside.

He was alone, this time, and even if the sun was high, the young King soon got goosebumps. The stairs were rather narrow, and the bottom was lit, but still darker, really as one would expect from a horror movie, and Yuuri thought he should have brought garlic, or holy water or something. Still, Wolfram was there, all alone, somewhere, so it was stupid to be afraid. Even if Wolfram had been elsewhere, it would have been stupid, for that matter...

He went down, and was glad to find that all the torches were still lit. On his right, he could see one the doors was opened. He warily went that way, to find another room, pretty much the same, lest Rufus Von Bielefeld's fake tomb, of course. And two more doors. That was one big family...

"Wolf?" He called. He frowned. No answer. He entered the room, and went to another opened door. He half-expected something to jump on him. He hoped it would be Wolfram.

But nothing did, and he entered this third room greeted by the large smile of his friend. He frowned.

"Wolf? Are you ok?"

"Ah! Yuuri! I didn't hear you coming." Yuuri took a step backwards seeing his friend dusting a skull, and he shuddered, wondering what Hamlet was about. He couldn't remember clearly. Wolfram didn't speak to the skull so things could have been worse. Instead, he put the skull in one of the tombs, with reverence.

"What... What are you smiling about, Wolf?" Wolfram sighed. He had left his blue coat somewhere, his was shirt was dusty, and he looked relaxed.

"Come here."he said. Yuuri approached and looked at the tomb.

"This is one of my ancestors. I remembered an old story about him. The scum who robbed the place left his skull on the floor, as if it was some junk!"he fumed, but soon he shook his anger. He would keep it for when he'd find them, and they would pay."Do you see that?"he pointed to a large hole in the skull. Taking a step back, Yuuri nodded. Wolfram chuckled.

"Wimp." He smiled again.

"I'm not a wimp!"

"Yes, you are. Anyway, this is... well was Lord Willibrand Von Bielefeld. His wife has been one of the Ten Lords for nearly 150 years, so only wedding made him a Bielefeld, but his wife then married a Von Gantz, and considering the circumstances, he was allowed to stay here... And this, Yuuri" he said with a mischievous smile, pointing again at the hole in the skull, "is his wife's doing."

"His wife?"

"Right. This, Yuuri, is what happens to cheaters!" he cackled, seeing Yuuri's face blanched.

'That's..." Yuuri shook his head. He must be joking. "I'm sure he only smiled innocently to someone, if that's true..." muttered the king." Besides, we should go out for some time. It's past noon already, and clearly, you need some fresh air." Wolfram raised an eyebrow.

"Here, lend me a hand, first." he said, and starting pushing on the cover of the stone coffin. It was really heavy, a massive bloc of stone, engraved with writings Yuuri couldn't read, but together, they closed it.

"Rest in peace this time, Willibrand the Cheater", Wolfram said, before following Yuuri outside.

"That's not very respectful..."

"That's how he was remembered in our history. The greatest cheater in the family, in fact, the only acknowledged cheater, is him. And he wasn't even family to begin with."

At some point, he had grabbed his coat, to lay it behind the vault, for them to sit on. The place was shaded by the vines.

"I should wash my hands," Wolfram said, eyeing the basket.

"Oh, right. Hold out your arms." Coking his head, Wolfram obeyed, and he smiled as a small water dragon took care of their hands before disappearing in the grass.

"Why Yuuri! You can be useful!"

"You say that as if... Forget it." He was able to summon small amounts of his power, but the real power of the Maou still came to him only out of anger of fear, even if he didn't want to admit it.

Wolfram chuckled. "Wimp."

"I'm not! ...You sure seem to enjoy yourself, you know..."

"I suppose I do. I mean... I'm pissed of, really, because of those scum robbers... But it's been a long time since I've been here. I guess I missed the place."

"Yeah, your uncle said you knew the vault better than he did. You lived here for some time?"

Wolfram casted him a long glance, and he grabbed a sandwich. He tore it in halves, and gave one to Yuuri.

"I came here when I learned about Conrad." He checked Yuuri's face and shrugged. It wasn't as if he could, or would change anything, regardless of Yuuri's reaction, so he continued.

"I was in my thirties, I think... Since I couldn't trust him anymore, I asked mother to let me come visit the other side of the family."

"Oh... She must have been sad. It must have been hard for you, too, and Conrad..."

Wolfram watched an ant climbing the vine.

"I don't think.. Well, you've met mother. She had lost Dan Hiri a little earlier, and then she tried to replace him, so she wasn't really... focused on me, I'd say. Conrad was the same, I guess."

You must have been lonely, thought Yuuri. He didn't say it, Wolfram would have thought it was pity. It was not.

"Waltorana welcomed you?"

"Yes, he was glad. I visited even less than I do now. And he's always missed his older brother, and since they all say I'm so much like him..."

"You don't think so?"

"How would I know?" snapped Wolfram. He rolled his eyes and glared at the same time.

He was thoughtful for a moment and then he shook his head, taking another sandwich, again sharing with Yuuri. "I've heard I look like him a lot, same hair color, same face. Mother says he was passionate, as well, but he had a sweet temper, I was told. So I don't think I'm like him."

Yuuri smiled, closing his eyes.

"Maybe you are. You can be nice, sometimes. You are now."

Wolfram reddened.

"Yes, well... hum I stayed here for some time. I studied to be a better fire wielder mostly."

"Why did you go back to Blood Oath Castle?"

Munching another sandwich, Wolfram pondered.

"I was bored, I think."

"You don't know?" Yuuri chuckled.

"Well I _was_ a child."

"Hmm you still..." Wolfram glared and Yuuri smiled sheepishly. "Forget it. So you were saying?"

"Here I had no one around my age. Uncle is great, but..."

"I know what you mean. It's weird, having several families. But who was your age in the Castle?"

Wolfram frowned. He wasn't sure what to think about that, so he choose to answer instead of commenting. He'd keep it in mind, though.

"The war started soon after I was back, so it's not as if there was time to play. Rather, the mood wasn't there. I mean, the real war was 20 years ago, as you know, but before... or even after. The country has never been really peaceful. Till you came that is. I worked, when I came back. I studied with Julia a lot. And I watched them all go to war." Not wanting to darken the ambiance by speaking about the war, Yuuri asked:

"I'm sure you were a hard student, weren't you?"

"Not a all!" Yuuri cast him a dubious glance and he found cute the way his friend furrowed his brows, his cheeks pinkening.

"Alright, then, not _that much_. The same as you are, I guess."

"Really? The magnificent Wolfram Von Bielefeld is comparing himself to me?"

"Ma... magnifie... A-all I'm saying is that it depends on the teacher, you freaking wimp!" yelled a nearly red as a tomato ex-prince.

"Meaning?" asked Yuuri, who wasn't even startled by the outburst.

"Meaning you flee Gunter a lot, and you could _appear_ lazy."

Yuuri gave him an amused, curious smile.

"You don't think I am?"

Wolfram crossed his arms on his chest before deciding he was still hungry, and he took a pastry.

"I don't think you are _all_ the time. And you don't flee when _I_ teach you something. And since I can understand without any difficulty why one would flee Gunter..."

Yuuri chuckled.

"That's not nice."

"Says the one who flees." replied the third son of Lady Cecilie, with a mischievous smile.

"Hehehe guilty." Yuuri smiled.

Their backs against the vault, they were under the sun, but shaded enough by their surroundings so that it was hot, but not too hot.

"I think I progressed though. I have a lot more to learn, but..."

"You're still a wimp."

"I'm not."

Wolfram stare at him, clearly dubious, but with a fond smile.

"You know you are."

Yuuri blushed.

"Well... When y-you say it like that... Somehow, it's not such a disgraceful thing to be..." He reddened more, embarrassed, as his gaze met Wolfram's. "or not to be..." He said, that was the first thing that crossed his mind and maybe things would be less...

Now Wolfram had a confused look on his face, and the double black laughed.

"That's something you reminded me of, when you had this skull in your hand. From a play, from Earth. That was scary."

"See. Wimp. Told you so." Yuuri frowned.

"It's not I'm a wimp, it's weird to-to touch it, I mean it was _someone_!"

"So what? It's just bones, now. I treat them with respect, of course, especially since those are my ancestors, but what should I be afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid," He frowned at the blond's snort." I'm not. It's just weird, is all."

"I don't see why. You're afraid of the Kohi?"

"N-no, not anymore, I guess... I freaked out the first time I saw one, but I like them now" said Yuuri with a tiny smile. They were fun and nice, after all.

"Well it's not that different. Bones. Very very old ones, nothing more. Quite dirty, tough."

Turning to him, Yuuri stroked Wolfram's cheek with his thumb.

"True" He said, trying not to blush too much."You've got dust all over you, even on your face. There."

Coloring again, Wolfram raised a hand to his cheek, now really hot and red, with widened eyes, he stared dumbfounded at Yuuri, who avoided his eyes.

Wolfram was about to say something, as Yuuri felt him lean towards him, as his own cheeks felt so very hot, when they heard someone calling His Majesty.

Wolfram repressed a groan and stood up, as the guard calling informed them that Gwendal and Conrad were looking for them. Yuuri kindly smiled, and grabbed the basket. As they joined them in front of the vault, both older men could tell something was going on. The two boys were avoiding each other's eyes. Conrad smiled knowingly, and Gwendal narrowed his glare.

"What's up?" Yuuri asked. He still had a content smile plastered on the face.

"I'm going to check our surroundings again. I wanted to give you this. He was not very happy, alone in the room"

"Muuuuuuuuuuh" moaned the sword.

"Morgif! I totally forgot to take him!"

"MuuuuuuuAuuuuuuuuuUUh" it moaned indignantly.

"Aaahha sorry, Morgif. So Gwendal, you're staying with us? I'll help here I think." He thought Wolfram was in a better mood, so he'd probably be ok with him helping. "Murata is still inside? He's preparing something, right? ... We should interrogate him, but he won't say anything I guess..."

Gwendal rummaged his temples. It was not the first time, and it would certainly not be the last, he'd ask himself why on Shin Makoku his King asked questions if he didn't bother to wait for any answer. So as usual, he grunted and went to business.

Conrad smiled. "I think Gwendal will stay around here, your Majesty. I will come back in the afternoon. The Great Sage is currently in the library."

"Oh. ok. I'll check on him later, then. See you around, and thanks, Morgif says thanks, I think. He missed me" he chuckled, scratching the back of his head. Wolfram muttered "wimp" and went back in the vault.

During the afternoon, they had mostly rearranged 3 rooms entirely. Yuuri had been introduced to enough dead people for the rest of his life. He remembered Wallerand Von Bielfeld, who looked like a mummy and still had very long hair. He had been Waltorana's eldest uncle, and had been one of Gunter's predecessor, at Blood Pledge Castle.

Waldemar Von Bielefeld he remembered as well, because his name made him think about Harry Potter's nemesis (which had earned him a look from Wolfram that clearly said "what-are-you-blabbering-about-AGAIN?"), and Wolfram said he was kind of a wimp which was, he said, extremely rare, in the family.

Wissem Von Bielfeld he would remember as well. He was known Lordy Wissem, for though he was a male, he was never seen wearing anything except dresses, and he had been known in his time as the most beautiful woman in the country, because very few people outside the family knew _she_ was actually a he. Hence the contraction of Lady and Lord. He lived more than 2 centuries ago, but his silver dress was still shiny.

One of them had freaked the hell out of him: Wolff Von Bielefeld. He had been a famous sailor in his time, and had a wooden leg, as in pirate stories, but it was never publicly acknowledged that he was a pirate, and Yuuri had to swear on his life to keep the secret.

The wooden leg had mostly been eaten by time, but Wolff's bones were frightening, white and shiny, and Wolfram said it was because he had been boiled and eaten, though it was part of his legend. A servant had said at this point that another part of the legend had given him his name "Two-Legged-Wolff", for he formerly had 3 they said. Most of the servants had laughed a lot, and eventually, he had understood, laughing with them, while Wolfram was fuming about how it was scandalous. But Yuuri didn't like him, anyway. The names were too similar, and Yuuri had felt the urge to hug Wolfram, as if such a bad omen (he felt like it was one, in any case) would take Wolf from him.

But all the while, Wolfram's smile had never faltered for long. He liked talking about his family, and even Yuuri admitted, and he was the first to be surprised, he had fun. The servants helped as well, and told them stories and rumours, about ancient times, and they both loved it.

So he was bound to mess up, naturally. At some point, while they were taking care of the third room, Yuuri had observed that two corpses were in the same tomb, and he thought the robbers had made a mess again. He was wrong, but Wolfram had expected him to misunderstand this, since he was such a wimp: If he was surprised when Wolfram had shown up in his bed, the fact that a wife had shown up in her husbands grave had to be hard for him to comprehend. 'Cause he was a wimp.

So Yuuri had tried to defend himself but had not much to say. Except that if he was such a wimp, he wouldn't have already been in a coffin with someone. To make matters worse, Yuuri didn't want to lie, and even if he did, he couldn't lie to save his life. Not to Wolf, in any case. So a some point, Wolfram learned that it _had_ happened, with _Sara _(which, with his usual insight he had called Sara and not Saralegui, which, he knew already, always pissed off Wolfram), which meant problems, as Wolf, oh so predictably, yelled "You wimpy treacherous cheater". And Wolf had been all the more insulted as all his ancestors were now witnesses. So Yuuri, bravely, had fled.

It was a pity, really, because he had really enjoyed his time with his fiancé, for once, and if he had only tried to listen...

Now, however, Yuuri was lingering in the main house, hoping Wolf would calm down, and pondering. Had he been cheating? They were very close, in the coffin, and Sara smelled really good, he remembered he had thought that. He had thought he was very beautiful as well. He frowned. To be cheating, you had to be actually _doing_ something, not just thinking...

But some corner of his mind told him he wouldn't like it, if someone he loved (who couldn't be Wolf, since Wolf clearly hated him, and always yelled at him, and they were both guys anyway) thought that way about someone else.

Still... It was true, Sara was beautiful, even if "Lordy" should fit him very much, and he had smelled good, and it wasn't as if if could prevent him from thinking what he thought.

He frowned again, losing his thought.

He refused to be called a cheater. The engagement was a mistake in the first place, and if Wolfram didn't want it, it wasn't as if he had done anything to prevent him from canceling it.

But he felt guilty even if he had done _nothing_ wrong, which was unfair.

And it had not been _his_ idea, to go in the coffin either, nor had he tried anything since that time. He never even thought Sara smelled good after that, though Sara had hugged him once, which would, hopefully, never reach his fiancé's ears, even if again, at that time, he had done _nothing_ wrong _at all_. So Sara had used some sort of magic perfume, or something, which was unfair, really. What could he do against magic? So he was the Maou, maybe he could have done something, but he wasn't aware Sara was using this perfume thing in the first place. If he was.

Yuuri scratched his head with both his hands, and went to the library. He wasn't a cheater, and he wasn't a wimp, and he didn't love Wolf.

"Stupid stupid wimp!" yelled Wolfram, which successfully made run away the last of the servants in the vault. They had dinner to take care of soon, anyway.

Wolfram fumed, and hissed, and yelled, and hit the wall for some time. He stopped hitting the wall when he noticed coldly that his knuckles were being as treacherous and unfaithful to him as his stupid wimp of a fiancé. He cursed his hand, and he cursed Yuuri, but then uncursed him because it wasn't a thing to to do the Maou, and not even a thing he wanted to do to his fiancé, even if he _deserved_ it, since he was such a CHEATER!

And this Saralegui, for crying out loud! He would have to kill the hell out of him, one day.

He would have to grab his girly head, one day, he would even call him "Lordy" if it didn't link him to someone of his family, which he clearly wasn't going to, but oh yes, he was going, one beautiful, marvelous day to grab his head and cut all his hair and shake his sneaky snake's eyeballs out of this newly bald head of his and make him eat them! But even that would not be enough, because Yuuri was nothing except a cheating wimp! A traitor! A coward! A... He ran out of terms because he didn't need any other, since Yuuri, anyway, was just a stupid, stupid cheater. And god, it hurt.

Wolfram let himself slide along one tomb, he didn't care whose, and sat, defeated. He hit the floor with both fists, since that way the traitors he tough were his knuckles wouldn't be hurt again. He tried to calm down, and it took him a while.

He'd blame the robbers. He hoped they would find them soon, that way he would let off his steam on them. They deserved it, after all. But he had not been very respectful, himself. He should get back to work. Think about something else. Or rather, he should stop thinking altogether. That hurt. He should stop feeling as well. It hurt even more.

He sighed. Saralegui was an ugly snake. It didn't matter. He'd love his wimp all the same, even if he was a cheater. He just wished he would... Wolfram frowned. They had been having such a good time. Why did he always manage to lose it that way? He knew he had no patience, and he had a bad temper. He always had a hard time keeping his emotions in check. But it was Yuuri's fault after all. _He_ made him feel like this. He frowned. It was unfair. Yuuri was a wimp and a cheater, and still, he couldn't help loving him.

He got up, when he heard someone walk in the vault.

Yuuri won't come back yet, he's too much of a wimp to come back now. He must think I'm still furious. Which is not very far from the truth, but since I love him, it's not as is I could do anything else than forgive him.

"Oh my!" he heard. Oh crap he thought. Not _him_ on top of everything.

Cocking his head on the side, with a smile, the Sage waited for him to come in the main room. He knew he had heard him, and he wasn't a coward, so he wasn't going to hide. So to the main room he came.

"What?"

"Are you ok?"

"No. Is there something less obvious you want to talk about?"

The Sage smile. Such a nasty mouth...

"Not really. Shibuya is not exactly good company right now, so I just thought I'd say hello."

Wolfram crossed his arms on his chest.

"Say it and leave me alone, then."

Murata chuckled.

"My my, ill-tempered, are we?"

"Again, do you have something to do here, or you just came to state the obvious?"

"Well. I wanted to try. But you're so moody... You seemed to have a nice time earlier."

Wolfram flushed. He didn't want to talk to him, nor about that, nor about anything, nor to anyone.

Murata shrugged.

"I wanted to ask..." He turned at the sound of feet descending the stairs. He raised an eyebrow at Yuuri, Conrad and Gwendal. Yuuri saw Wolfram and turned his gaze to the ground, while Wolfram turned his head on the side.

"What did you find?" They all waited, and no one spoke. Murata raised his glasses, and glanced at the stairs.

"Wolfram?"

"Brother?"

"I asked you, why did you call us? What did you find?"

Wolfram turned one raised eyebrow to his brother. "What do you mean?"

"Wolfram... If that's to... "Yuuri groaned.

"We should..." Murata had no time to finish, they heard a rock-fall, and when the smoke and dust cleared, the stairs only had 5 steps left. The entrance was blocked. The way out as well.

"What now?" sighed Yuuri. "Hey! Waltorana? Can you hear me? Hey!"

"It's no use Shibuya. This have been planned. Who told you Lord Von Bielefeld found something?"

Yuuri cast an angry look to Wolfram through the smoke.

"The other Lord Von Bielefeld." he said.

"What? Uncle? Why would he do that?"

"Dunno, maybe it's so easy for you to say people are traitors because you're one. And your Uncle as well."said Shibuya, shrugging. He pouted.

"Why you...! You can't say something this... You wimp!" yelled Wolfram. They exchanged that way for a few minutes. Conrad turned his head from his brother to his king to his bratty brother to his godson to his colorful-languaged-baby-brother-who-used-to-be-so-cute to his inventive-insult-wise-whom-he-used-to-believe-innocent-godson. So... he had missed something _big_, apparently.

Gwendal massaged both his temples. He loved traveling, because traveling meant being away from Anissina, and he often forgot why most of the time, he didn't join the king in his trips. He remembered now.

Murata, a large smile on his joyous face sat down to take scores. He wasn't surprised that Yuuri was doing well. A grumpy Yuuri had quite a vocabulary, and no one made Yuuri as grumpy as Wolfram could.

"W-wolfram! Wolfram come here!" Wolfram was furious, now he'd make him come to him? Who the hell did he think he was? Well being the Maou, he could always _try_.

"WOLFRAM, NOW!" yelled Yuuri, and Wolfram just had time to see him running to him, as he felt something behind him.

Conrad and Gwendal were near him, now, sword drawn, as they frowned at _it_, while Yuuri had grabbed a bewildered Wolfram by the elbow to make him take some steps away from it.

"The cheater" he said, numbly.

"Enough now, Wolfram!" Grumbled his eldest brother.

That shook the fire-wilder out of it.

"Not Yuuri, you... That's Willibrand the... Oh crap!"

All around them, they heard scratching noises. Old bones were trying to - getting out of their coffins. They had not closed all of them yet, not even half of them thought Yuuri, shuddering. All he could think was it couldn't be real, because in all horror movies, the stench was something that had to be unbearable.

"Wolfram, the stairs, protect them there!"

"No Rufus' tomb! There a way out here!"

Murata smiled. He knew old vaults like these often held secret passages, and he'd been suspecting that was what Wolfram was hiding.

"Well hurry up and open it" snapped Gwendal. Wolfram was slashing around him as Yuuri tried to help protecting Murata. He showed the hidden lever to Murata while Yuuri stared fascinated as Conrad fought against a zombie drag-queen, in a lovely silver dress. Lordy.

The pirate, Wolff, had only one leg left as he tried to bite Gwendal. Yuuri couldn't help looking for the wooden one. And how did he get out of his tomb?

"Snap out of it, Yuuri!"yelled Wolfram, as he blanched. Half-heartedly, Yuuri slashed in front of him. The had been people. Wolfram's family. He turned his gaze towards the other door as Wolfram gasped, the one that was closed, the one that exploded, pushed by he didn't even know how many ugly decayed limbs.

"All the beings that make up the element of fire ... obey this brave Mazoku who summons you!"yelled Wolfram, and his fireball went trough the masses of corpses

"Just how many dead people are here, Wolf!" moaned Yuuri as saw the dead were still coming toward them, only now they were in flames.

"Murata..."

"It's rusted! Help me, I'm not heavy enough, it won't.., aaaah!"he cried, as his hand was crushed under Yuuri's and Wolframs who had literally jumped on him. The lever went down with a deafening sound and broke, but in front of the fake tomb dedicated to Rufus Von Bielefeld, a passage appeared.

"Brothers, this way!" Wolfram yelled, as he pushed the double-blacks in the tunnel.

"All the beings that make up the element of fire, obey this brave Mazoku who summons you!"whispered Wolfram, as his brothers came near him. He set more of them on fire, but they still didn't stop. His lion distracted them enough for him to go back near his fathers tomb.

"Wolfram, Come back _now_!"shouted Conrad as he prepared to come and get him. The blond mazoku didn't plan on staying for chit-chatting tough, and in a few seconds, he was near the passage. He didn't escape Waldemar's sharp claws, though, and a throbbing pain on his left shoulder made him wince.

A few seconds later, they were all down in the passage way, and Gwendal used his maryoku to close it with earth.

It was pitch black, inside, and only shuddering breaths were heard for a few seconds.

"All the beings that make up the element of fire"sighed Wolfram," obey this brave Mazoku who summons you!"

A small fireball lit them, and Yuuri glared at him, but it was Gwendal who yelled his worry.

"What the hell did you think you were doing, going back inside?"

Wolfram smile and held up the basket. They had not eaten much at noon.

Yuuri frowned as he saw his friends shoulder. He immediately went to him and started healing his foolhardy fiancé.

"Just for food, you..." Yuuri shook his head. Why Wolfram never tried to think _before_ acting!

"Well, Lord Von Bielefeld, I'm glad you kept your secret. I'm convinced if you had spoken about it, we would have been awaited there as well."Wolfram chuckled.

"I didn't want Uncle to know about it."

"Why?" asked Yuuri, still pouring healing maryoku in the wounds.

"I pretended to mourn my father... And I used this way to go playing." Gwendal shook his head.

"You should be ashamed, Wolfram!"

"Yeah, well.. Sorry, brother. It's not as if I had something to mourn."And I loved my father for that, he thought, that's the only think he could do for me.

Conrad smiled at him. He knew Wolfram had tried to find some way to create a link with a father he never knew. Even something like that wasn't so bad. And he guessed the kind of playing he was talking about.

"To play?"

"With a sword."shrugged Wolfram, with his unwounded shoulder. Waltorana believed mostly in magic, so Wolfram had to find a way himself to keep practicing. It wasn't his fault if he had to use the vault for that, and it was as a secret between his father and him. He had liked that.

Yuuri smiled at him. He was just glad every one was going to be ok, Wolfram could be so careless...

"And here I thought maybe you were normal at some point..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"There, there, nevermind. Does-it still hurt?" asked Yuuri with a nice smile.

Wolfram shook his head, blushing.

Gwendal looked around him, but past a few feet, everything was dark. He looked at his youngest brother.

"So where does this go?"

"Thats why I went for the basket, brother. It's an old place, and I didn't use it that much. I'm not sure I can remember the way out."

"It's still friendlier than..." Conrad showed the way they came from with a sign of his head.

Yuuri took the basket from Wolfram to give it to Murata.

"So that's why you came? What did you know exactly? You weren't surprised when the stairs fell. Why did you let us come inside in the first place, if you knew? You _always_ do that..." He pouted.

The fireball made a gleam on his glasses as the great sage nodded.

"I don't know about the thing that raised the Von Bielefeld family, but I expected an attack, at some point." Yuuri frowned.

"Surely, your higness, you know more about these, though." They all turned to the Sage, as Conrad asked nicely.

"It's not maryoku, right, Murata?"

"I don't think so. Right now, I know only what it isn't for sure, we need to learn more. And the dead wouldn't have destroyed the stairs, _that_ was maryoku."

"Uncle wouldn't..."

"I suspect your uncle is safe with Yozak for now, Lord Von Bielefeld. We should make them know we escaped, however. I wouldn't want all your family to roam here and there, and they will open the way for them if they think we're still here."

Wolfram frowned. It was not as if it was really his family. It was insulting to pretend it was.

"They burn with a magic fire, it didn't stop them but eventually, they'll burn, thought?"

"I'm not really sure. I don't know what creatures exactly they are."

"They're not zombies?"asked Shibuya.

"The way they were raised from the dead may make them different." Yuuri sighed. He had spend a good day with them, when they were dead. Now, he didn't like them anymore. It was a strange thing to think and it made him smile. It was funny, in a creepy kind of way.

"We should get going then. Try to remember, Wolfram. Which way did you use?"

Wolfram took the head and made his fireball bigger.

"I'm soooo glad you're here Wolfram! I'd totally freak out without the light!"

"Wimp" muttered Wolfram. Did he have to say things so... Geez."We don't have much choice for now, only one way. "

They followed Wolfram's fireball in silence for some time. After a while, Yuuri was bored, so he went near Wolfram to talk. Conrad followed him closely, ready to unsheathe his sword, and Murata and Gwendal stayed a few feet behind in a thoughtful silence.

"So how did you learn about this passage, if Waltorana didn't know about it?"

"I read something about it."

"Where?"

"In my grandfather's diary. It was in the things I inherited from my father."replied Wolfram. He concentrated on keeping his light, as well as where he put his feet. Yuuri was going to trip on him at some point, he suspected. The wimp always did things like these.

"What did he say about it?"

"He used this way to escape, when his life bored him, mostly. He wrote about the passage, so at first, I just wanted to find it. When I did, I wanted to explore. I made maps, it was fun. And one of the exits lead to a hunting lodge where I could practice with my sword without being disturbed." Plus he could throw a fit without being scolded there.

Yuuri watched his friend with a small smile. That sounded lonely, and he was glad he could be there for Wolfram now. Had he really thought he didn't love him? He couldn't understand why anymore. He wanted to always be there for him. He misstepped, and Wolfram caught him roughly to jerk him up. He muttered "sorry" as Wolfram snorted and mumbled "wimp".

"So how big is here, actually? You said you made maps. Where did it go?"

"Well theres a way that leads to the main house, trough an old well."

"I wouldn't go that way. I'd say we were spied on in the house as well as in the vault."said Murata, calmly.

"A long tunnel lead to the forest. Nothing much around, as far as I can remember. Another one leads to the ancient marble excavation south of the main house. I never had the chance to follow all ways..." He tried to remember more.

"Feels like the 6th sense in the Moria or something..." smiled Yuuri. I see dead people, he thought.

"The what?"

"Oh, nothing. It's from a story on Earth."

"Wolfram?" asked Conrad. "How long did it take to reach an exit?"

"That depends. To the hunting house, something like 2 hours. I was smaller, though. In the diary, it said some people were lost here for days."

"D-days? Whoah I'm glad you grabbed the food, now."

"It won't last for days, Shibuya. We should find an exit quickly."

"It's not like I wanted to stay here for days, you know!"

"There is enough for tonight, at least, your Majesty." smiled Conrad. He had said there wouldn't be enough for 3 of them only to leave those two alone, after all.

"I think that way" Wolfram pointed to his right, "leads to the well. The other two should be... I think I took the one in the middle."

They followed silently, and time passed very slowly. Yuuri found himself thinking again about the silver dress. A zombie drag-queen was quite a sight. He chuckled. That earned him a glare, and he was about to explain himself when he heard Conrad unsheathe his sword. He saw him scanning the dark passage in front of them as he was pushed behind. He couldn't see anything, so he tried to concentrate on hearing, as it seemed the others were doing.

Then he heard a moan, and patted Morgif. Then he heard an answering moan, coming from the dark.

Wolfram was near him, taking a step forward, but still behind Conrad, as he needed to be steady to be a reliable source of light. It wouldn't do, in a fight, if the light moved and changed, Yuuri understood as much, and though Wolfram had his sword out as well, he seemed to be aware of that as well, since, contrary to his usual ways, he hadn't already launched forward. Yuuri smiled: He knew Wolfram had to concentrate to refrain himself from doing it.

He just stood there, as Conrad easily took care of the incoming zombie, and he wished Wolfram's fireball could light all of the tunnel. He winced, as the corpse fell on the ground. This had been a person. It wasn't right. It shouldn't have been walking around, and Conrad shouldn't have had to fight it.

"We should bury him" he heard himself say, with a shaky voice.

"As expected from Shibuya" said Murata with a voice which held some sort of teasing. "You're nice even to those things..."

"They were someone's kids, or parents, don't say they are things! I couldn't even really try to kill them back there..."

"You should have. I could, and those used my ancestors. It pisses me of. If I find the scant responsible for this I'll... "shouted Wolfram angrily. Yuuri interrupted him by putting a hand on his arm.

"Wolf, calm down, please. I'm sorry. We should concentrate on getting out of here, I'm just... sorry."he said, pitifully. "It's ok, I'll come back when it will be finished, and I'll order a proper burial. We'll take proper care of your family as well, Wolf. Let's go."

Wolfram still looked furious, but he just nodded and led the way. After a while, everybody had been silent and they met no other walking corpse. Yuuri repeated "Calm down, calm down, calm down" in his head. He tried not to think about the fact that the last one would not rot for it was more a skeleton than a zombie really, he tried not to think they were just very very old bones, as Wolf put it, even if they now were looking for... maybe brains, as in the movies. Or just food. Or warmth. He thought death had to be cold, but they still attacked while burning because of Wolf's fireball, and he thought it didn't smell anything like what he expected. If there had been a smell, and he wasn't really sure, in fact, it would have been more of burnt paper. He lifted his head to watch Wolfram. He had not noticed his wary look as the boy looked around him, seemingly unsure about the way to take next, as he had stopped in a small cavern with three exits.

"Darn it. We're lost, right?"

"I know that already, you wimp! I told you all I didn't remember which way to take!"grumbled Wolfram.

"It's ok, Wolf" smiling, Yuuri patted his back. "As long as we're together, anything can happen but we'll manage, right?"

Wolfram reddened at his winning smile, even if he surely meant all of them and not only Yuuri and him, but he was still angry at himself and didn't dare to look at his brothers to see the disappointed surely on Gwendal's face, and the apologetic smile on Conrad's.

"We should stop for a while." said the Sage."My feet are killing me, anyway, and we'll hear things coming from here."

"You think more will come?" asked Gwendal, as he sat against the wall.

Murata took the food out of the basket and motioned at Wolfram to set it on fire, freeing his hand. He distributed part of the sandwiches to each of them, and the few pastries left. It wasn't enough for a real meal, but it was something at least. And none of them was really hungry.

Yuuri suspected that if it had not been Murata giving the food, the 3 Mazoku would have tried to give them both all the food, and he was glad he didn't have to argue on that matter. The Great Sage was seldom criticized, even Wolfram was more or less respectful with him. Less lately, though, but he could understand it. He and Shinou had not been exactly nice to him in the past, it was only logical for him to distrust them both.

He didn't like it, for he wanted every one to get along, especially since both Wolfram and Murata were dear friends, but he was able to understand.

"I see few possibilities. One, "said the Sage, as he started eating, "a spell was cast on the vault, as an attempt to kill Shibuya."

Yuuri shuddered and concentrated on eating, eying the burning basket. It didn't warm him physically, but it was their only light for now, and _that_ was warming him. He had sat near Gwendal, and the others had taken place in front of them, Wolfram and Conrad in front of each other, so that they were able to see two entrances each, and only Murata faced the wall, as if he didn't fear anything coming behind him. Yuuri feared exactly that, hence his place against a reassuring, solid wall.

The basket burnt in the middle of their loose circle.

"Two, it's affecting the dead on a larger scale."

"You mean the dead would be rising in all this land? Or all the country? That's..." Conrad didn't finish. He didn't have to. That would mean everywhere, people would be attacked, that would mean Greta would be in danger, that meant so many things Yuuri didn't want to think about, that he closed his eyes firmly and shook his head.

"How that could be possible? It's not, right, Murata?"

"I'm afraid it is. But that's because I'm a pessimistic, you know, you have to be after so many lives." he smiled wryly."But it could all be a coincidence as well. You're less guarded here, when you leave the castle, I would attack on such an occurrence, were I your enemy. And something unrelated would have caused the dead to rise here. That's less likely, but still a possibility. So as I said earlier..."

"We have to learn more." Finished the King for him.

"Correct. You see why I don't usually bother to explain while I've not a precise idea of what's going on?"

"I'm starting to... So why did you do so now?"

"Because I need you to understand how serious this situation could be. We have to find a way out soon." And I already know you won't be happy when we're out, he added to himself.

"I'm positive I've already been here, and my guess would be that this way" said Wolfram pointing behind Conrad "leads to the forest. If I'm right, it will take less than one hour to reach."

Murata nodded. Gwendal finished his sandwich and eyed his youngest brother.

"How far of the main house will it be?"

Wolfram thought about it, for a few seconds.

"West of the main house. And I'd say about 4 hours, from the house. The land is even, mostly, and the bridges on the river are well-maintained."

Gwendal sighed and got up. "Then let's get going."

They followed his lead, and then Wolfram's, who had summoned a new fireball.

He was right. Soon, they felt a cold wind coming through the passage they took. Night had fallen. They could hear noises, made by some normal forest creatures, hopefully, and not too far away, a river.

As they reached the exit, Conrad and Gwendal helping the others to go out, since they were too small to reach it, the way being partially destroyed by years, Yuuri heard Murata heave a long sigh and he frowned. He hated it, when Murata did that. It meant he was going to say something he wouldn't like.

"We'll go to the river," he said. And he then asked Wolfram to lit a torch. Yuuri watched them with a frown as they lingered, talking together when they reached the river.

"We have to go now. First Earth, and I'll lend you enough power for us to go back right away."

"So what's the part I hate?" asked Yuuri dumbfounded. He turned to Wolfram, when he muttered wimp.

"You really need to learn to see situations as a whole, if you want to be a good king. You won't like leaving someone here, but it's necessary."

"Exactly" agreed Murata.

"I don't see why. It's not as if we left something important here, Yozak and Waltorana are safe, you said. And Ao and the others are horses, do they eat those as well? Please tell me they don't!" The four other sighed.

"Even if he said they should be fine, we have to know for sure, and if they had to flee, they won't have any informations to give us. So we need to sent someone gather facts. But I can't say I like it." said Gwendal, watching his younger brother. Yuuri shook his head.

"No, and certainly not Wolfram. I don't see why it should be him! Conrad could take care of ...himself... more..." He had felt the temperature rising just as he realized what it was saying.

"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself contrary to _someone_, _I_ am not a wimp."started Wolfram coldly, "and if you were more kingly, you'd already know I'm the best choice since I know the land, I have light if I need some, I'm armed and I _am_ a soldier" finished Wolfram pushing his forefinger on Yuuri's chest with each of his last words. He turned around and started walking away of the river, but Yuuri ran after him.

"Wait, Wolf, I... sorry, I never meant..." said Yuuri pleadingly.

"Don't you trust me?" asked Wolfram to his king, coolly.

"Of course I do, that has n-..."

"Then it's settled. Go back now."

"But Wolf, I... I know you're strong and..."

"I'm sorry Shibuya, but he's right, we should go now, your lovers quarrel can wait."

"Murataa... Wolf, that's..."He stopped as Murata had grabbed him by the arm to drag him to the river.

"Damn it! Wolf, come back safe and soon, and that's an order!" he shouted. He didn't hear any answer as the whirlpool was taking him. He always forgot Murata could do that.


	3. Chapter 3

Rule_N°3: Zombie phone home!_

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><p>They spent less than ten seconds in a Japanese bathroom and appeared in the castle's fountain. Soon word spread within all the castle: the King was back.<p>

Yuuri didn't pay attention to people around him. Wolfram had looked at him with eyes full of hurt and anger, and he knew he had said something Wolf would take as a real offense. Not only had he suggested that Wolf couldn't take care of himself, but to worsen matters, he had actually said Conrad would do better.

At least, that was how Wolf would view things, he knew.

He was worried and he didn't want Wolfram alone, at night, in a forest with zombies all around, that much was true. But he trusted him, in ways, even more than he trusted Conrad.

He would have preferred Conrad to go though, that was also true, because Conrad would be more prudent. He trusted both of them, but he trusted Wolf to endanger himself way more than Conrad, who took time to think.

He was starting to get angry at Wolfram. Why did he have to take everything the wrong way?

"Your majesty?" Conrad shook him kindly.

"Sorry, I..."

"Don't worry, Shibuya. He'll be fine and he won't sulk for long, even if you really should think before you start talking. But it's cute, as _he_ should think before he acts, you complement each other sooo well!" Murata smiled teasingly.

"Shut up." He had noticed at some point Gunter's bear hug but didn't listen to anything, as he was on automatic pilot since they had left Japan, and he finally noticed that the castle was on the alert. He didn't even remember walking (or maybe more being walked) to his office.

"Nothing strange have been spotted near the castle, Your Majesty, the royal vault has been sealed for now, but it seems nothing there has awaken. Gunter informed you earlier that we received news relating the situation we encountered in the Von Bielefeld lands from most of the ten nobles." said Conrad. His trademark smile had been replaced by a concerned expression.

"It seems nothing happened except in the vaults of the ten families," said Gwendal, from his desk where he was reading a message. "The Von Christ and Von Kavelnikoff reported the theft of mazoku remains as well."

Yuuri sat and scratched his head.

"So... they steal a ... corpse from all the ten families and we don't know about the others, or just lucky ones were taken?"he pondered.

"My guess would be all, and I'd say the theft is what caused the other dead to awoken in the first place. If we're really talking about theft."

Conrad raised an eyebrow at the Sage. "Does that mean the corpses were used to cast a spell and destroyed as a consequence, or they cast a spell to specifically awaken some of them and they... walked away, but it awoke every dead things around?"

Murata furrowed his brows and lifted his glasses.

"I... how could the same thing happen in ten places at the same time? If it was a spell, Murata, is it easy? It should need one magician in each of these places, right? A necromancer, as in RPG?"

"I... 'm not sure Shibuya. I'll come back tomorrow, maybe Shinou will have something to say. If you don't mind, I'd like an escort, when I leave." he grinned.

"Of course! Then... Is the situation handled in those other places? How was it? There were attacks as in the vault? With someone using Maryoku? Is everyone alright?"

"It seems the corpses tried to escape each vaults, but no casualties were reported yet. The vaults all are in the domains of our most powerful nobles, Your Majesty, they all have their troops. They will handle the matter well."

"You named me, Conrad. Call me by my name." said Yuuri with a little smile. That felt normal, saying that. It was reassuring, in the middle of all this. "Any news from Yozak? He should meet Wolfram at some point, I want him to..."

"I'm sure Yozak will stay with my brother even of he isn't ordered to, should he meet him." said Gwendal. His wrinkles were more pronounced, telltale sign he worried about Wolfram as well.

"Right..."nodded Shibuya, munching on his lower lip. "It's not far away, though, maybe we should... go back to... " He held his hands in front of him as he met Gwendal's jaded gaze. "I hate being here, doing nothing, and as far as I know, the only Marioku user spotted was in the Bielefeld lands. We also met a zombie in the tunnels, so some awoke outside the vault, there, and we don't know if Waltrana has ordered the vault to be opened again, so..."

Murata played with his glasses.

"Nearly all of his troops were hunting the so-called robber, so he may need some help, true. I'll take care of it."nodded Gwendal.

"Your majesty, you used a lot of your maryoku, as did his Highness. You should go rest. The princess refused to sleep before you came back, maybe..."

"Alright... I want news of Wolfram and Yozak as soon as they arrive, though, and Conrad?"

"Your Majesty?"

"Call me by my name."

He bid them good night, well aware that Murata stayed behind. As usual.

Greta was sleeping in the Royal Chambers. She had her room since weeks, but she always came when she was worried, or scared. He took his pyjamas and went to the baths. He relaxed, there, a little. But he couldn't help thinking about Wolfram. He trusted him, really, so why did he want to go back to him now? It was not as if he would protect him, the contrary was more likely, in fact, since he hadn't really mastered his maryoku, his powers weren't dependable. He conjured a small dragon, and made it bigger. He was already tired, and let the creature dissapear in the bath's water. Sleepily, he washed and went back to his room. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Greta woke him by jumping on the mastress, asking where Wolfram was. He told her he'd come back really soon, and it had to be true, because he wouldn't lie to their daughter.

Some time later, he was meeting Conrad and Gwendal at breakfast. It was early, still, and Conrad didn't come for their morning run.

"Any news?" he asked immediately. They both shook their heads, and with a heavy sigh, he sat to eat. He hoped Wolfram was surrounded by his Uncles guards, with a good breakfast.

"Nothing yet from Wolfram or Yozak, Your Majesty."replied Conrad. The king nodded once, and proceded to eat. _Keep calm focus, keep calm focus, keep calm focus_... He repeated the words in his head. He had to act, he needed to contentrate on the kingdom, he wouldn't even realize time had passed and Wolf would be back already, so he had to focus, to calm down, and to... reply when someone talked to him.

"Sorry, I wasn't... You were saying?"

"I was just apologizing for not coming this morning. Gisela said that you should sleep until your body decided it was time to go. Do you feel better?" smiled his godfather.

"Fine, thanks." He smiled. "So. No news about them. What about the rest of the world? I suppose you sent word about this to our allies, just to be sure nothing involving zombies happened elsewhere. Maybe you told me yesterday, but I wasn't really... But I'm fine now, and sorry about that. So?"

Gwendal eyed him critically and sipped some tea. "They didn't notice anything strange, though only Caloria and Cavalcade have replied for now. This confirms our suspicions, it's linked to the mazoku, and the ten families."

Yuuri munched a pastry, nodding.

"Gunter came this morning? I guess he was making researchs in the library, that's where he is already?"

"He stopped just to say where we could find him, as if that was necessary." The king grinned at Gwendal.

" I'll join him when I'm finished. Murata said zombies could be different... In Earth, they eat brains and stuff, but don't really exist, it's just movie stuff. And we're the demon people, so it's not as if we could use holy things against undeads as in games... "He turned his grinning face to his Godfather, "Conrad, you'll come with me, Gunter will get more to the point that way." Turning to Doria, he asked if she could bring tea and pastries in the library, and told Gwendal he would take care of paperworks after his talk with Gunter.

The eldest son of the former Maou followed his King with his eyes. Most of what he'd said didn't make any sense, but he found himself in a better mood, all of a sudden.

Conrad followed his King to the library. He was glad he had been asked to, for he knew nearly nothing about zombies either. Such foul things weren't common, and were born from cruel minds and powerful magic. They were hard to kill, and pain didn't stop them: they felt none.

And Gunter was the man to ask, when one needed knowledge about nearly anything, provided that thing was mentionned in books.

He had chuckled, when Yuuri had said that the man would get to the point if he was with him. He hoped that would be true, but the truth was, Gunter would be Gunter: the man could take hours to say something anyone else could explain clearly in minutes.

Digressing was something he did a lot, probably because of all the things he'd learned, everything was linked to everything. Not for the first time, he sympathized with his King: It had to be hard for the boy to extract the things he _had_ to know from the things that were interesting but could wait. His smile widened when Gunter wailed and cried about their king's kindness, as the maids brought breakfast, but it faltered at the thought that Wolfram would have fumed about the hug. No news yet. Yozak should have sent something already, as well.

He learned little. Or too much, depending on one's viewpoint. As expected, Gunter had a lot to tell, and though he asked for a summary several times, it took quite some time. But as the Great Sage had hinted, there were different kinds of living dead. The way they were raised affected them. If maryoku lingered in them, they could be different as well. Most of them could be put back in oblivion when hit in the head, but if maryoku was in them, the better way to get rid of them was dismembering: they would still be "unalive" but less dangerous. And the spell caster had to uncast the spell or die for them to follow. Their bite was lethal if not healed really fastly, and they transmitted illnesses through it, as well as through their claws. Wolfram would probably ok, however, as Yuuri had taken care of his wound.

He was worried, though. About Yozak, Wolfram, but also about his king. His mind seemed set on taking care of matters efficiently, and he felt somewhat proud of him, however, the king was not someone who was at ease with talks about dismembering or these kind of things. He had blanched several times, during the discussion, looked sick as he had watched his adviser eating happily, unaffected by his lore, and most of the time, he had looked worried to death. Frightened, in fact. Details about rotting corpses roaming all around the place were bound to do that. But still, the young king insisted that they were not to speak about "it", "things" or "creatures", because it would be cruel. He rationalized that if they kept their loved ones in vaults, visiting them, taking care of graves, they had to still be loved ones even if they went out of their graves. So they were the first victims, and he didn't want to kill them, but to help them. Conrad had to smile.

So while Conrad had asked questions about how to get rid of them, and what to do if injured, his king had been concentrating on learning if they felt pain, any kind of feeling, if their soul's went back to them...

He understood how cruel a fate it was, and was therefore willing to put them back to rest, at least. 

* * *

><p>"You stupid, idiot, moronic wimp! Stupid, stupid, stupid! As if I was unable to walk by night in <em>my<em> family's land! As if Weller would do better! Damn it, Yuuri, what's the matter with that thick head of yours? Can't you trust me? Now I think about it, you trust every one, that's what you do, so... Ok, calm down, Wolfram, he's being wimpy all over you because he cares. So you should be pleased, and not hoping to meet exactly what _he_ fears just to kill something" He muttered in the dark.

Wolfram stopped for a second, listening.

I really don't get it. This afternoon was great. I even... If the guard had not come just at that moment, he'd... And then he had to talk about that snake..., he cut his thoughts.

The very small fireball he used to see grew bigger and he cursed, calming himself down after a few moments.

And he healed me, and his eyes... But he just had to ruin it, as always. It's always his fault somehow...

He frowned and shook his head.

I'm pissed of. And alone here, and I should be concentrating. Using some light is dangerous enough as it is, if I don't focus...

He stopped, his right hand passing through his hair, and inspired slowly.

That's exactly what he's been worried about. Still, I wouldn't have to concentrate on concentrating if he had shut his big mouth! But I've been pissed since this letter came... And he actually calmed me down... I hate this situation. If that's how it's going to be, fine: I'll show him. I'll go back to him without even a scratch, and he'll be forced to find something better than his "sorry, Wolf".

I'll show you, Yuuri Shibuya, 27th Maou!

He forced his mind to clear of everything. He was in a potentially dangerous situation, he had do be effective, discrete, quick, among other things. So he had to stop thinking about Yuuri and think only about the task at hand.

He lessened his fireball to the point that it lit only his feet. If someone was out there, he didn't want to be spotted. It was cold, since he was only in his shirt, so he used his power as a firewielder to take care of that. It took some time to reach the house, but there it was, he could see the roof above the trees. He'd have to leave the forest to see anything interesting, though, so he took a small break. He'd catch his breath, clear his mind again, get ready to fight if need be.

* * *

><p>Noon came and passed. Yuuri worked hard not to let his worry appear to the rest of the world.<p>

He had listened longer than he had initially wanted to to Gunter's long rambling, and did not feel at ease with the things he learned. Not to mention that his advisor had confirmed that they needed more facts to identify the kind of zombies they were dealing with.

Then he had taken care of paperworks, for a while. He didn't want to eat, but felt Greta would need him to be with her. She had to worry too, he was aware of that, so he had taken a light meal with her and Lady Cecilie, worried as well but still flirting and chatting.

It had been weird.

He took meals alone with his daughter, from time to time, or with all the family. At least, Wolfram was nearly always there, as well as Conrad.

He felt lonely.

Conrad was out, taking care of troops, and Gwendal stayed in his office,trying to look as if he wasn't dying to read a message from his brother. Gunter stayed in the library. Murata wasn't back yet.

He wasn't always surrounded by people, in the castle, and sometimes, he enjoyed, and even needed some time alone. But he choose, he asked, for those times, and it was entirely different now that he had no saying on the matter. He wanted everyone back, everyone happy, everyone safe.

Greta had eaten quietly, and Cecilie took care of her for the afternoon.

Back in his office, Yuuri had signed and signed and signed. He jumped everytime he heard a noise near the window, hoping for mail to come.

But the first news he had were from Murata. He would come back for dinner, not before, and had sent a messenger to tell this and go back with specific books from the library.

As expected, Gunter had scribbled the titles before looking for them, for Gwendal, but when asked, Gunter said that the ones he was sure he knew were novels. Romantic and epic novels.

And Yuuri just had to wonder why, how Murata could possibly sent someone for these books at such a time. Wasn't there other things to think about? More important things? So he had been angry with Murata. It lasted a few minutes, at least. It wasn't as if what _he_ was doing was helping at all, he could have been reading novels as well.

They received news from all parts of the kingdom, during the day. The situation was handled with more or less casualties, but the zombies had to be secluded in places where they couldn't reach anyone: Even chopped to pieces, they were still "alive". Moving. Just parts of them. As in a head trying to bite, feet and hands trying to scratch... It all made him shudder.

But it only meant that they had to find the spellcaster, and they would all be put to rest at the same time. That was, if there was only one spellcaster.

He hoped that was the case.

However if that was the case, maybe he was the one that attacked them in the Von Bielefeld lands, which meant Wolfram, his uncle and Yozak were in a dangerous situation.

He hated that.

He had fled the place when he should have stayed to help.

He went to the dinner-room silently, Conrad at his side. He had spend all afternoon waiting for news, but none had come 'til Conrad came, telling him dinner was served.

He frowned, as he entered the room, welcomed by Murata's smile. What was he smiling about? But he wasn't sure it was ok to ask, since Greta was there as well. He'd have to wait, and he had to smile as well. He shouldn't worry Greta. There wasn't anything to worry about, really. They were all skilled soldiers, they had to be fine.

So with him making everything he could not to show his daughter how worried he was, and Murata rambling, and Lady Celie, as herself, dinner wasn't as gloomy as he'd expected.

He found himself daydreaming, even, as Murata explained himself.

The books were for him to lend to the priestesses, that way he could go to their room to get them back and... followed by wingling eyebrows.

Murata wasn't the Original Sage, he thought. He was the Original Perv.

He lived 4000 years ago, and in both worlds, so that made sense. Maybe before, perverts didn't exist. Then, the Original Perv came, and he breeded. He must have had many lives, in which he had children, that way, he transmitted his perverted ways, and now, perverts were all aroud. Many people could be the descendants of one of his previous lives. Murata was potentially the sire of all the perverts in the world. It was _frightening_. He'd have to ask, at some point...

Finally, Greta went to sleep, Lady Celie, after a glance at Yuuri, said she was going to read her a story.

But even then, Murata didn't have much to tell. Shinou refused to appear, he said, and he hadn't learnt anything which would really help, he claimed. Yuuri saw something was amiss, but he couldn't be sure of it, and he was at least sure that his friend wouldn't keep him from knowing something that would help.

He said his knowledge would help anyway, with a smirk, and concluded with the others that a powerful spellcaster had used some kind of ancient spell. One, he tought, because from the description made from the other noble houses, all these zombies were the same, and different spellcasters would have made different zombies. It still was an hypothesis, he said, but since it all happenned at the same time, from what they could tell, Murata thought that the spell had used some kind of link between the corpses which had vanished, using or raising those to cast the spell.

"So... you still think the maryoku you felt outside the vault isn't linked to these zombies?"

"It still is a possibility. I don't think someone with as powerful a magic could wield maryoku too, so there was one more ennemy there. But that doesn't mean the maryoku user wasn't allied to the other guy."

"Either way, we should try to know more about this guy as well, shouldn't we?"

"Of coure, Your Majesty. But we all know perfectly well what you are planning, and it won't happen." said Gwendal in a cold tone. Conrad nodded at Yuuri with an apologetic smile.

"We're all worried, Your Majesty, but you can't go: We don't know why they did this, we have to keep you here, else we won't be able to ensure your safety."

"But..."

"No but, Shibuya. They're right. Your mean of travelling is one thing they may not have predicted, aside from the hidden tunnel. Perhaps their plan was to get you from the start."

"What for? Their zombies would have eaten us, or ...or something, right?" He wasn't comfortable with the idea that someone may have planned for him to be eaten.

"I don't think... The Von Bielefeld family has a long history of powerful maryoku users. Most of the time, zombies raised from demons such as those feed on maryoku only. They would have scratched you, killed you, but I don't think I've heard of zombies eating maryoku users. They want to have more of their kin, so they kill, their tainted claws infects demons, but we're still not... good enough to ... eat..." said a somewhat hesitant Gunter.

"That, and if the spell-caster was around, he could control zombies, to a certain extent at least. I wouldn't be surprised if he was able to see through their... well those of them who still had eyes. So with the informations we have now, the most plausible hypothesis would be that they wanted to kill you, Shibuya. To then raise you. Which would mean they can, or think they could, use your power as a Maou after your death." said Murata, pushing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. That, or there is something we must know about the stolen corpses, he thought.

"Mother and the vault here should be protected a lot more, then." said Gwendal, crossing his arms. He nodded towards Gunter who left to give orders.

"But if that's true, why not wait for a day when I was here? There would be the Maou, the 26th, and all the others as corpses in the same place."

"Yes, Shibuya, I've thought about this. Since the power of the Maou is linked to his soul, I guess only you or Lady Celie could be used for these powers. However, they would have to trap a soul in a dead body to do it, not an easy task..."

Yuuri frowned. For Murata, to show he didn't know what was happening at all, the situation had to be worse than what he thought.

"But isn't that all the more dangerous for Wolfram and his uncle, and Yozak? They would be looking for us in the Bielefeld lands!"

"Shibuya..." Murata sighed. " We have to protect you, you know that. And I shouldn't have told so much. You can see I'm still not sure of anything, I could be completely wrong, so for now, the only thing to do is trust everyone outside, and ensure the security of everyone here. They may attack here, or they may prepare something else entirely."

Yuuri crossed his arms on his chest, standing up to look through the window. Night was falling.

"We sent troops there already, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Ok." I have a bad feeling about this, he thought. He wouldn't say it, even if he knew his demeanor probably told it to everyone there. "If... if maryoku feeds them..."

Murata's lips made a thin line. The two brothers were wearing the same expression, jaws clenched, frowning. They all knew Wolfram would use his maryoku, if he encountered some.

"For all we know, the only raised one we met outside the vault was killed by Conrad easily. I suppose they were a mean to look for us, as I said, a powerful caster could look through their eyes. That may be good news. As long as those in the vault are captured inside it, the other ones won't be a match for him, Shibuya."

"Why were some weaker?"

"Maybe the spell-caster had used too much power already. Maybe he was too far. Maybe it was a human corpse and his power channels more with maryoku users' . As the Sage said, we know too little to make trustworthy assumptions" said Anissinna, who had been silent from the beginning of the meal, quietly listening to everything said. "I have to work. Gwendal, I expect you and Gunter to test my new invention in the morning," she said, before living the room while Gwendal blanched.

Yuuri munched on his lower lip, gazing at the darkening sky before turning to the 3 men left in the room.

"I understand you want to protect me, but I have to do something." He held his hand up as Conrad was about to open his mouth."I get it, really. But if I don't go there, what? If we don't know their plans and you say they could act in some time, you're saying I'll have to hide here for weeks? Months? That's ridiculous, I mean..."

Murata heaved a long sigh.

"They made their first move only yesterday, Shibuya. We will have more informations tomorrow, we will..." He didn't finish, as Yuuri mumbled about going to his office. He had already heard that, he didn't want to hear it again. He was the king, as as usual, he was useless.

In his office, the young King took out his frustration on a chair. He hated all of this, he didn't know how he should act, and he couldn't help but think about what Shinou said, during their fight for the boxes. He had not been himself at the time, and most of the time, he was able to put all this behind him, to consider it really all was rubbish to make him give up. But other times...

With a sigh, he glanced at the window.

A pigeon was waiting for him.

He read the message and put it on the desk.

The pigeon had just brought some news from Francia.

Their dead were still in their tombs.


	4. Interlude

_Rule N°30: ten-ten-ten!_

_"This appeared as a moral dilemma 'cause at first _

_It was weird though I swore to eliminate the worst _

_Of the plague that devoured humanity it's true _

_I was vague on the "how" - so how can it be that you_

_Have shown me the light" (Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog)_

So that's some nonsense that makes sense only at this point of the story. You can just go to the next part if you want to, though.

* * *

><p>At dawn, hundreds of zombies could be seen from the castle's windows. It was so sudden!<p>

One of them asked for an audience with the King, which surprised everyone, for they didn't know zombies talked.

The undead messenger was King, he said. _His_ voice was strange, as if he had earth or something down his throat, thought Yuuri, as he watched _him_ (for he refused to call it "it"), walk nearer and nearer to the throne. He fought back the urge to flee, and glanced at Conrad, near him and ready to draw his sword. It was reassuring, to have him and Gwendal near. Murata and Gunter were there as well.

"My people are fed up being treated as less than dirt. We are turning back to dust. Dust, okay? That's not _exactly_ the same thing. When you finally entered one of our home on this land, I decided it was time to have a serious talk with you. A dead serious one." he started laughing maniacally.

Yuuri had a forced smile plastered on his face as he nodded, trembling.

"I hear you're dead against prejudices."

"You're... dead right, Mr. Zombie." answered Yuuri. Conrad approved. The Zombie made something with with face, that mays have been a smile. It was hard to tell, as there wasn't flesh anymore on some parts of his cheeks, and his lips looked... well like anything but lips. Also, it was hard not to concentrate on the upper part of his head, as his crown was partially inside his skull, and some insects were crawling on his forehead.

"Well then, know that you rule on the living here as I do on the dead. And my people are constantly killed on sight by you're people. Do you know, how traumatizing it is, to die _again_? And then, we have to play dead, which is ridiculous for we _are_ dead, only to go on unliving our death when it's safe to dig our way out of a grave! Oh yes, the graves! Do you realize how tiring it is to get out of those! Our bodies are fragile, you know! One of my servants lost two fingers the last time he had to do it. And for what? Only because I ordered him to go to town to get me some Morgif cookies!" He had started pacing, and Yuuri and the other were following him, heads turning left and right, and left and right...

"I'm dead set on improving the situation." The Zombie said, crossing his arms, eyes (well one eye and a scary empty eye-socket).

"I'm trying hum...my dead level best to understand."said Murata, a deadpan expression on his face. "You are responsible for what happened in the vault, in the Bielfeld lands, right?

"Dead right."

"But if you wanted to talk, why were we attacked?"he asked.

"Oh yes, yes, we're zombies, that's what we do, right? "Oh a living thing? Enjoy your meal sir!"Said ironically the undead King."You were not from the family. When the Bielfeld guards, or Lord Waltorana were in the vault, were they attacked? No. They thought you were dead robbers, that's all."

"Huh? Wasn't that the other way around? I mean no... Hem. Murata? I'm lost. Wolfram's father is..."

"He went out, we do like to take the sun, from time to time. He just felt like travelling a little."

"So there was no theft after all... And he went out on himself... right." said Yuuri with a frown. That was all... He scratched his head.

Murata cleared his throat.

"Well that's... not what I expected. Still, there were other attacks? How do you explain those, Mr.. Zo...What is your name, anyway?"

"Ho, forgive me! Dead people don't do that, as we... oh well. You'll understand one day... When I was living I was called Letum. And yes, I know of those attacks. That's why I'm here! We're facing a revolution, because my people were attacked, and put on fire in their homes! And in the tunnels, a party with a king killed someone too! What sad times are these when passing ruffians can _kill_ at will old zombies. What did he do to you?"

The living people in the throne room glanced at each other.

"Well... It was a reflex, really... I though it was attacking. Sorry?" said Conrad.

Letum turned to him, then back to Yuuri.

"See? _It_, he says! Zombies are people too!" Letum shook his head sadly.

"Ha! Told you so Conrad! I agree Mr Zombie... errr I Mean King Letum. I never said "it" when talking about one of your people. I think. If I did, I'm sorry as well."

"Yes, I knew you'd be able to understand! So my people will rest in peace soon. Well.. you know what I mean..."

"Err I think I do" answered Yuuri with a bright smile.

"Thank Shinou! It really is a matter of life and death, so we should act fast. We need to prove to my people that you also believe it: Zombies have rights!"

"Oh yes, I... I agree. They have."

Letum nodded, and made this horrid thing with his face again. He put on hand on his heart, and Yuuri wondered if it was beating, and raised the other one to the sky.

"We'll rule together on the living and the dead,"He said. For someone dead, he seemed full of life, speaking with such passion. "Together, we shall end years of mistreatments! And well, for a living, you're drop-dead-gorgeous, if I may say so."

"Eh?"

"What?" cried out Murata and Conrad at the same time.

Letum cocked his head.

"Oh? That was too forward? I though you'd be used to political weddings."

"Whoa! Stop dead here! What the hell are you talking about? Who's gonna marry?"

"Well me, obviously, I'm the King, it won't do if it's not me. My people will see this as strong symbol!"

"Oh? Congratulations, I guess, but..." Yuuri smiled, with a confused expression. "But I'm dying to know: who's the lucky zombie lady?"

"Hum..." Murata burst out laughing, and Yuuri frowned, as the others were head low, either hiding laughter or looking appalled.

"You are, of course. Wasn't that..."

"Eeeeh? I... Hum I'm... I mean I... What?"

"I understand it can be a little too fast, but..."

"I'm uh... already engaged, so... I'm dead against this! I mean sorry... But we can be friends!"

"I'm afraid we have no choice. If we want to avoid war that is. And... Well if we don't, it will be ah... a dead end, really. My people will riot, kill livings... Think about it. It will be a _life_-changing experience, for you. "

Yuuri fainted.

Letum talked a lot with Yuuri's advisors, detailing the situation. So they agreed, at last, there was no way out of this it seemed.

Yuuri was hard to convince, but eventually, since he'd said he'd do anything to protect peace...

They married, and lived (and unlived) happily ever after.

_THE END_

* * *

><p>Ta-daaaaaaaa!<p>

Happy April Fool's Day ;)

I thought about this only few hours ago, so I didn't have the time to read and reread it/work on it a lot, and I won't have any time to do it tomorrow, so... sorry :D I just had to it before the 02/04!

I hope you're not mad, though, if you were expecting the real story ^^ Next _real_ chapter in a few days, and Letum the Zombie King will stay in his vault, I promise!


	5. Chapter 4

_Rule N°4: OMG! They killed zombie! You bastards!_

_So. Back to the real story! I answered the first reviews in chap. 1 by the way (because I'm sooo logical )._

_pikeebo__: Awww poor Letum! Zombies need more love! But don't worry, I won't do it again.. Hmm. "Never say, 'Fountain, I will never drink your water!'" they say around here, though... ^^_

_PatraH__: Well... I don't remember saying he wouldn't: I said he wouldn't get out of his vault, that still leaves options :D Que sera sera ! Mwahahahahahahahahahaha. Ha. Hum._

_rokudaime09: Horror, really? I mean creepy, yup, I hope it is a little. And if it's balanced most of the time by funny parts, then it's as I wanted it to be. Should I change the genre?  
><em>

* * *

><p>There was some commotion as the King wasn't in his chambers around 4 in the morning, but Conrad found him asleep, while Murata was still reading silently near him.<p>

"Bielefeld?" he whispered. Conrad nodded with a rueful smile.

"Waltorana. He sent a messenger. They're fine, and they received your note," he answered without raising his voice too much. "His soldiers are keeping the vault, but the entrance hasn't been cleared."

"Nothing about _him_?" For some reason, Murata had the feeling that saying his name would wake up Yuuri.

Conrad shook his head.

"No news from him or Yozak, yet."

Murata nodded tiredly.

"Shibuya needs some sleep. Get a meeting ready for breakfast." said the Sage, eyeing his friend. He would be mad, but Murata knew that he needed to rest, and Conrad would have showed more if anything interesting or urgent had come up. And the more he slept, the less he fidgeted...

Conrad nodded, came back a few minutes later with two blankets. He gave one to the Sage who gratefully took it and wrapped himself in it, and covered his King without waking him up.

Afterwards, he went to try and get some sleep as well.

Yuuri woke up a little after the sun. He was sore from sleeping in an armchair, and stretched with a long yawn. He rubbed his eyes, surprised to see Murata sleeping near him, partly in an arm chair, partly on a large and old book, on the table in front of them.

He left the library quietly, and went to his office. No one was there, except a pigeon, waiting for someone to take the note it transported. He took it, and watching sleepily outside, while releasing the bird, he saw _it_.

A large smile appeared on his face as he ran to their room. He passed by a few guards, but stopped for no one. His smile disappeared as he saw no one in _their_ room.

Frowning, he took long strides to the dining-room. A scowling Gwendal acknowledged him with a nod.

"Isn't that Ao I saw outside?"

"It is. Waltorana sent a messenger with the horses we left behind."

"I had hoped... well." It was obvious, what he had hoped. He sat at his usual place, and as he was going to take a cup of tea, he remembered the message in his hand.

"We received this... It's... What?" Gwendal lifted an eyebrow as he heard the King's cry, and took the message. He read it and frowned. He eyed the paper he still held in his other hand.

Earlier, he had been in his office: with day light, he expected news.

He had taken the message with him on his way to breakfast. He didn't want the King to see this first thing in the morning. I guess he won't be more upset now, he thought, silently holding the paper out to his King. He rubbed his forehead.

Yuuri still was more or less dazed, as he took the paper. He glanced at it.

"What!" He yelled.

"Well, hello to you too Shibuya." said Murata, entering the room.

Yuuri lifted his gaze to him, looking at him as if he had seen a ghost. Considering he has seen zombies, Murata thought, it's to be expected... It just took some time for him to realize, as always. He smiled.

Gwendal looked at Yuuri who was reading and reading the paper again as if it was going to tell something new, and eventually, as more people sat at the table, he took it from Yuuri, tearing a bit of the paper as the King didn't move a muscle, not even as Gwendal was giving the two pieces of paper to the Sage. Yuuri was out for some time, it seemed.

He was cured by Murata's laughter.

"It's not funny, Murata! It's... it's nonsense!"

Conrad lifted an eyebrow, as the paper was handled to Gunter.

"Again!"yelled the lilac haired man.

"Oooh your Majesty! You're such a womanizer!"giggled the former queen as she had read with Gunter. "And I _always_ said my son would have a hard time keeping men's hands off him!" she finished, winking at Conrad. The man gratified her with an inquiring smile. He had no idea what this was all about.

"Could someone..." he started. He was cut by Yuuri.

"Sara says my wife and son are in his castle..." He said, grumpily. Murata cackled again.

"Your Majesty, of course your loyal servant approves of each and every of your actions, I wished I had been in on the secret!" wailed Gunter, and was going to continue but was stopped by Murata:

"At least, you don't have to worry about your fiancé throwing a fit!" he laughed all the more as Yuuri's expression turned murderous. Well as murderous as he could manage without turning into his Maou self. Murata was, therefore, _not_ impressed.

Conrad cocked his head on the side.

"So... A wife? A child? And Wolfram won't be angry because...?"

The table was divided. Some people seemed angry, really angry: Gwendal and Yuuri. Though Gwendal maybe was just... himself.

Some other were cackling, or just plain laughing. A lot. Those were The Sage, the former queen and Anissina.

Gunter seemed to have a hard time deciding which to do, so he cried loudly.

Sighing, Conrad took the papers from the shaking hands of Gunter. It would prevent them from being soaked as well...

He took a large inspiration, preparing himself for the worse, and read.

_"Dear Yuuri._

_How I miss you! You should visit more often, really. However, I understand you have been busy. Quite busy, obviously. Which is why I want you to come and visit as soon as possible: As I promised, I behave, and welcome your people to my country for trade and such. Still, I admit I was surprised, a few days ago when a woman came to me to seek asylum. She claims to be your wife. And the baby she claims is your son does look like you, he's just as cute! How is your fiancé, by the way?_

_As you know I have ways to... let's say convince people to tell the truth, so I'm still trying to sort this out, you little sneak! And here I was feeling remorse for when I hid things from you!_

_I'll take good care of them, and maybe you can take some time to visit us. Soon._

_ Yours truly, _

_ King Saralegui of Shou Shimaron."_

Conrad rubbed his forehead, sparing a sympathetic smile to Yuuri, before putting down the first message, to read the other one. A much shorter one. Laconic, in fact. And he recognized the writing immediately.

_"G.,_

_Eloping with your brother!_

_ Y."_

Conrad's eyes bulged before he shook his head lightly, his expressing turning back to his custom smiling one.

"That's..."

"Rubbish!"grumbled Yuuri, who seemed furious, and surprised and... offended.

Gwendal cleared his throat, massaging the bridge of his nose, as he saw the maids had been listening avidly, and for some time, it seemed. He'd let informations leak out later, to control, at least a little, the rumors which were bound to spread now, but he didn't want people to comment on the King and his advisers reactions. Not more than what would transpire already.

"Gunter, the door. Tell the guards we're not to be interrupted. Ladies, we have enough already, you may leave. Now."

Lady Celie tried to stop giggling, as her first son obviously meant business, but she couldn't help herself. The King was unbearably cute!

"I take it you're jealous, Your Majesty? You're so very charming, I knew..."

"I am NOT jealous! Obviously, that's a joke, anyway!"

"Oh?" Asked the Sage, with a large, teasing smile. "Which one, Shibuya?"

"BOTH!" He took a breath." Obviously, both are... just... rubbish." He said, pouting.

Which ended up resuming for the laughing ones. Yuuri frowned at the traitors.

"Of course, His gracious majesty wouldn't be jealous because of this brat! I'm even surprised he didn't elope earlier, seeing as his majesty couldn't be interested in such a brat!" said Gunter.

"He didn't... He wouldn't do that!" Said Yuuri, sulking even more as snickers were heard. "He can do whatever he wants, I'm not jealous, I told you all! He just wouldn't do something like this when he always yells at me, and... and chases me all around calling me a cheater!"

"One always fears what is on one's mind..." pointed Anissinna, with a smirk. "And Yozak..."

"Wouldn't do such a thing." added Conrad, with a reassuring smile at his King.

I love you so much, Conrad, thought Yuuri.

"Though he seemed to enjoy teasing Wolfram _a lot_ lately..." continued the soldier, with a strange smile.

How I hate you, Conrad, you traitor, thought Yuuri. He decided he would stay silent, as they all seemed to agree that this was a "Let's make fun of Yuuri" moment. He hoped Gwendal's absence of sense of humor would help.

"This could be serious" started Gwendal.

Yuuri stared at him disbelievingly. Not even Gwendal!

"I mean the rumor which is going to spread from this, your Majesty. Obviously, Wolfram wouldn't do such a degrading thing, especially not with a man like Yozak."

"Yozak is a perfectly... well he is a respectable man" noted Conrad quietly, earning knowing smiles, and a glare from his brother.

"Yozak had not enough time to send more news, obviously, and for some reason, Wolfram is with him. This note is just his way to say that they're both well and they won't come back yet. Nothing to worry about, except rumors that wouldn't even exist if you all didn't react in such an undignified manner."

"I didn't use the word elope first" said Cecilie with a charming smile. Her eldest son started massaging his temples.

"What about this wife of your's Shibuya. And a son, oh my!"

Yuuri glared at Murata. It wasn't possible since he had never... Well he'd be damned if he said _that_ in front of them all. He wondered for a second if it would matter, as he was a demon King, being damned would probably not be a bad thing here.

For the first time, though, he was glad Wolfram wasn't here, even though he was furious about Yozak's choice of words, Gwendal had to be right. Wolf would never do that. Unless Anissinna... No he wouldn't, he decided.

"I don't understand," He finally managed." Sara would know, if she lied, it's true... But of course I don't have a wife." He frowned at the smiles around him, and crossing his arms, he added: "I wouldn't mind a girlfriend, though" He heard chuckles and fumed all the more, but decided not to look at who they were coming from.

"You know it happens, sometimes: young, impatient people..."started Cecilie giggling. She couldn't help herself. Now she knew her baby was safe, she just wanted to smile and laugh with everything.

Yuuri scratched his head.

"I have no wife, and Greta is my only child. Could we please be serious, now! It's the second time..."

"Well the first was lacking a woman. Maybe she's cute, Shibuya."

"Murata... Shut up. Please. Or find something useful to say."

"You're no fun, Shibuya. But if you insist... I'd say... it a very good timing. Too good." said the Sage, his glasses gleaming in the morning light, as he straightened up.

"This would be linked with what happened in the vaults, Your Highness?" asked Conrad.

"It could be." Murata pushed his glasses up on his nose. But do they want Shibuya to go there to attack here while he's away, or to attack him where he will be more vulnerable. And Shinou still hasn't shown his face yet... Something is very strange about all this.

"Since your fiancé is all well with his new suitor..." he grinned at Yuuri's frown. "I'd advise to go meet your wife. I'll come with you, and so will Lord Weller. The others should work on learning more about this zombie situation here, and on keeping the fact that you're away unknown."

"What? I couldn't put a foot out of the castle yesterday and now I go to Shou Shimaron?"

"Yes, your Highness, I fail to see how this would help, if I'm not going as well to protect his marvelous, oh so wonderful majesty! I should come also! And just looking as the way he wrote, I can tell this King is not the most... worthy of our trust. He should be able to tell if she lies..." Gunter whined.

"I'm sure there's a logical explanation, Gunter. I have no wife and no son! It's just a misunderstanding! But it's true, Sara would have used his eyes on her..." Yuuri frowned. She had to lie, but why would someone do that?

"He implies he did try. Either he lies and he's trying to lure you, or she fooled him as well. Either way, it's a matter which has to be settled as soon as possible. Is just Conrad as protection enough? It may be a trap, even if King Saralegui may be innocent... _for once_. "

"He's a friend! Of course he is innocent. I trust him. And I have no doubt that this is all a misunderstanding, we just have to talk to her!"

Murata smiled at him.

"As you say. I am well aware, Lord Von Voltaire, that it could be dangerous, but I guess this woman won't sway from her version unless Shibuya comes himself. Also... we should take care of this while your fiancé is away, really, Shibuya, don't you think?"

Yuuri thought about the way Wolfram would react if he was told he had an wife and a son. For about two seconds.

"I'm going to Shou Shimaron." he said, hitting his palm with his fist.

Hopefully, this would be all cleared in a few hours, and Wolf would come back never to hear about this. He had other things to think about now, anyway. For example, how in the world did he manage to become a father, to have a someone calling herself his wife and a fiancé, to have been accused of having an illegitimate child twice, and still, to remain a virgin?

Could anything be _that_ frustrating?

By noon, all was settled, and a letter had been send, informing Saralegui that Yuuri would come incognito. Word was spread within the castle that the King was going back to the Von Bielefeld estate to go back to his fiancé, as Waltorana was informed that if asked, the king and his fiancé were within his domain for some time.

So a few hours later, the King, The Great Sage and the Lion of Ruttenberg were on their way to the estate. They stopped to change, and Yuuri and Murata put contacts and dyed their hair. They went back to the port where they took a banana ship, Anissinna's creation, to go to Shou Shimaron. 

* * *

><p>Shinou hates me. How else could things be this... What did I do to him to deserve that? Have I offended him? It's not fair. Not at all. I don't even understand how I could let myself... And this guy enjoyed it all the more, whenever he showed how he despised this whole situation. No wonder the man was Conrad's closest friend. Traitors, both of them.<p>

He grumbled, thinking about his brother. He was not that bad anymore... Had never been, though no one would ever force him to admit it.

Ever.

But this friend of his... He threw up. Again. Of all the places... He coughed and rinsed his mouth with water from his flask. He'd been there for hours, and it didn't seem to get better. Shinou had cursed him, perhaps. Or someone else, but he was definitely cursed. How else could he be there, on a boat, in _that_ situation, with this guy. At least, no one would recognize him. That was the only good thing about... everything. But he had no news about Yuuri, the wimp had to have some problems, since he wasn't there to take care of him.

And he had to remember he _had_ to be mad at him, next time he'd see him. Though he didn't know when that would be, he hoped it would be soon. After all, Yuuri didn't order him very often, and he had asked him to come back soon. Maybe he was missed. Though the way things were going his way, the cheater was probably surrounded with girls, just as _he_ was with water.

Things had not been going this well, a few hours ago, however. He'd joined the main-house before dawn and had fought with an Earth wielder. He didn't see his face as his enemy was wearing a dark green hooded robe, but the man seemed powerful enough. It would take a long time to repair the house. They fought for some time, the man shaking the ground, and Wolfram was glad he had trained with a powerful earth wielder before, his experience from sparring with his brother helped a lot. He managed to hurt the man, and his cloak had started to burn, at some point.

But the man fled with another hooded person, as zombies roamed all around the vault. He recognized his Uncle's soldiers.

The stench of decay was what saved him, for at first, he did took them for allies, then he'd noticed that they didn't attack the hooded people. They were easily taken care of, though, unlike their cousins from the vault, a strong enough fire _did_ destroy them.

So the smell of rotting corpses was replaced by the smell of burning flesh, nearly making him sick. Still, he preferred killing them with fire, so as not to approach them, or even use his sword on them.

The smell would have to linger.

He got rid of most of the creatures and ran to the horses. Thankfully, they had not been attacked. The wimp would have been sad. He'd have as well, he thought, as he jumped on his horse to follow the hooded figures. He yelled, and soon, some of the servants appeared at a window. They'd barricaded themselves in the house, and were glad that the orders he gave were not to get out as long as soldiers, living ones didn't come for them. They were to tell them not to open the vault again before having large troops, the King had escaped earlier.

He hesitated for a few seconds before following the hooded figure's track. Yozak found him just a few minutes later. He'd escorted Waltrana to a safer place where the man would gather some more troops, as 2 magic users and a lot of former guards, dead and still walking, lingered around the vault.

So everyone was safe, except the unlucky soldiers he'd had to kill ... tough they had been killed already.

They followed the tracks till the coast.

He hated it, however, he followed Yozak's lead, as he wasn't that used to spying around. He knew he wasn't exactly discreet. After some time, Yozak had come back to him with a large smile.

"I sent news to the castle" he'd said, chuckling. He failed to see what was funny in that. Then Yozak explained his plan, and he refused. After a while, however, he had to give in: They needed to follow those people, and Yozak needed his help. They had a few hours to prepare themselves, and the more he thought about it, the more he hated it. He would not be recognized, by anyone, or he'd have to kill. Yozak knowing was already too much, as the man was sure to talk, later, even if he swore he wouldn't. As Yozak had said it, they had no choice: letting them slip away could endanger the wimp (tough he'd said "the kiddo"). And he wouldn't be allowed on this boat alone. There was no choice, and to help Yuuri, he'd do anything, anyway.

So he couldn't curse Yozak, because he was right, they had to know more. He couldn't curse the wimp because he loved him too much for that. His brothers had nothing to do with this, and the hooded guys were going to help him to be less pissed off by dying, or at least, suffering _a lot _so he would not curse them_._ And he couldn't curse Shinou either, as it would be ridiculous to curse a god that was cured of a sort of curse by his wimp at some point already. That was why he chose to curse his mother. It was her fault, obviously. But he didn't really want a real curse on her, so he compromised to hating her for the time he'd spend on this boat. _That_ really was her fault. If it wasn't for her, he'd be with his wimp already. But the former Queen and her free-love cruises had started a trend. So now, boats took people to free-love cruises, as others took people to shared-love cruises. Those were for happy couples who wanted to get away on a charming trip with other equally loving couples, to share mutual love while visiting the most romantic places, _as they said_. Only couples were allowed in, for even the crew came by pairs, as it was _oh so romantic_.

He vomited again.

Shinou was the cause of everything else, most probably. That, or he was the cursed one, he thought, it had to be something like this.

A disguise, he could take. For some time, at least. Yozak's company, the same, if it was needed, he'd bear it. But one plus the other, plus the others passengers and his seasickness...

He'd have to spend the time on _their_ – he shuddered – room, else he'd loose it and kill everyone on board. At least, the hooded guys would be killed as well, so that was one way to succeed in protecting Yuuri, right? And the boat would sink and nothing would matter anymore.

He rinsed his mouth again, wishing to shut his ears at the compassionate comments around him. Yozak enjoyed himself, too much, _openly_.

I should wear a helmet from now on, he thought glumly. That way, I won't have to disguise again. He'd learned some of Yozak's secrets, at least. The man apparently never left the castle without some sets of matching contacts he'd asked from the Sage, wigs and hair dyes, and at least one girl outfit.

Of course, Wolfram had no problem with wearing contacts or changing his hair color, so he had now pale blue eyes, and deep purple hair. While Yozak wore a lot of makeup and his favorite dress, looking really like a woman, though a muscular one. Which was why he felt they made a ridiculous couple. Wolfram had to agree on that one, actually.

But since Yozak was adamant, he had to be a girl, he settled for them both to be girls. That earned him a few burns. He loathed being dressed up as a girl. And every way one looked at it, he looked as a man dressed as a girl: he walked, stood up, spoke, did everything, he thought, he hoped, as a man. There was no way he'd fool people, and he didn't even want to. Yozak then proposed to teach him how to appear more like a girl, saying maybe it would please the Maou later, which earned him a few more burns. At which point they had launched a yelling match, and finally, he'd healed Yozak's burns. He compromised: they could go as two men.

That would be better. Yozak refused. He was positive he had been seen, and he wasn't in the mood to act his old man part, especially if he was to make him appear as his love.

Wolfram had closed his eyes, repressing his urge to vomit. He knew he'd do that enough once on the boat.

Finally, since he had to, he complied: To follow the hooded people, to get on board, they had to act as a couple. And Yozak loved being dressed up as a woman, so that left two solutions. He had to dress up as a girl as well, which would be ridiculous. Or as a man, he'd have to appear to be in love with the Yozak-girl, and they'd look like the most mismatched and ridiculous couple there ever was.

Even if he was really looking as a woman, Yozak was twice as big as Wolfram, taller, larger, older...

But at least, he wouldn't have to dress up as a girl, and they would be ridiculous as a couple, which meant all the ridiculous part would be Yozak's fault. So, Yozak took out his dress, and of course, he had prepared a matching outfit for his _husband_. He had prepared a nice dress as well, in case Wolfram should change his mind. Wolfram had shuddered.

He puked one last time before going to lay down, followed closely by Yozak, calling him "honey" in his fake girly voice. He shuddered. Shinou hated him. He hated Shinou. He hated the world. He had to sleep.

When he woke up, he was alone. He washed himself, and enjoyed it: even being naked was better than this ludicrous newly-weds reddish suit. Or rather, suits. For Yozak, the traitor, thought just one ridiculous outfit wouldn't be enough for the trip, since they didn't know when they'd stop.

They had to stop soon, right? Yuuri needed him, and he had to go back to him soon. He hoped he would. He really did.

Yozak tough, seemed to love it. He took away his clothes whenever Wolfram was away or sleeping, so that he had no choice but to put on a new of these horrible things. And Yozak himself changed often.

Too much, in fact. He didn't even know where he hid all of those spare clothe, and Gods, the lack of taste the man had!

Even Wolfram's mother didn't change garments _that_ often. But as bothered as he was with this situation, Wolfram didn't feel so bad, when he thought about Yuuri. He did all this to help him, and he'd do anything to prevent him from being in danger.

Also, since he had been starting to feel sick since the moment he laid a foot on the boat, he stayed in the room most of the time. After the first time he went out to take some fresh air, he regretted it, and vowed to go out only when they'd have reached their destination: Yozak had to get some informations, so he had to get people to talk to him. So he spoke a lot to everyone, and had quite a lot to tell... And of course, he couldn't say a thing about this, or their enemies would spot them.

For now, Yozak had learned they seldom left their room, and never the two of them, so he had had no chance to break in. And they always kept their hoods, so all in all, they had learned nothing. Hopefully, when the boat would stop, this horrid trip would have a point.

He finished washing himself, and went back to the bed. The, as in shared. He shook his head. Yozak had told people they were newly weds, that since his husband's parents disapproved of him marrying a half-mazoku woman, they chose to elope, and they were so lucky to have found this boat ready to go. So lucky indeed, thought Wolfram with a sigh. And Yozak explained that since his husband had never traveled before, they weren't aware of his... condition on a boat. So people felt sorry for both of them, people he didn't even know, and the crew took extra care to make everything as romantic as possible in the room, in their meals, everything.

If someone was nosy enough to ask about ages, Yozak answered with love, and he'd drop a few hints about his parents accusing Wolfram of being interested in money only, so really, staying in the room was best.

The boat would stop a few times before going back to Shin Makoku, and they had no idea yet where the hooded people were going. So they didn't know where they were going either. And they couldn't afford the risk of being seen sending a message, so that as well, would have to wait till they had a good opportunity.

"Honey! Feeling better?" half-singed Yozak when he entered the room. He closed the door behind him and sat near the bed, where Wolfram, half-dressed in a colorful reddish and yellow suit was reading. Yozak smiled and spoke less loudly.

"I need you to go out tonight. All these rich people can't have enough balls, so I organized one."

"A ball." Said Wolfram with a frown.

"Yup. A ball. You've just the right suit for that, today, as well, Your Excellency!"

"That's the only one you left... Where do you put them all, anyway?

"You don't really want to know"winked the man. "So, I told everyone what a pleasure it would be if we all became good friends and all, and I managed one of the other guests to invite the hooded guy."

Wolfram put aside his book and sat on the edge of the bed.

"He'll come with the other one, you think?"

"Well... It's not a bachelor party, and they should be aware people are talking about them. If they don't want to stand out too much, they'll come. I'll help you get in bed early, because "my poor honey isn't used to the sea yet", and that'll leave me some time to pay a visit to their room."

"Well at least, I won't have a problem pretending to be sick... But Yozak, you should realize that we're on a boat. It will kill our enemies if it sinks, and it will sink if I put it one fire. And I will if you call me "honey" one more time, got it?"

Yozak answered with a sweet smile.

"Of course, Your Excellency! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to put a nice matching gown!" He was chuckling, on his way to the en-suite bathroom.

Wolfram's narrowed eyes followed him for a second before his sea-sickness made him feel to bad to think. Again.

As the time to go out of his room grew near, Wolfram finished preparing himself. He looked like crap, his skin looking a little green, even though he felt better. It didn't help that he had not eaten anything since the "meal" he'd had with Yuuri, the Sage and his brothers in the tunnels underneath his former house. Or rather, he hadn't kept anything, since he had _tried_ to eat. His body and the sea didn't agree with that.

All in all, it wasn't so bad: At least, that gave him a good excuse not to dance, should the crazy spy try something like that. He felt to weak to dance, and moving around while dancing wouldn't do well. He had to look sick, he didn't want to _really_ be sick again. He knew it would come back as soon as the wind would rise again.

Yozak came to get him, and even if he had yet to speak to most of the passengers, everybody seemed to have heard about him by Yozak, and to feel for him. As they were alone near the stairs leading to the upper deck, Yozak explained that he'd learned long time ago that it was really easier to blend in by appearing a lot, and seeming friendly than if one tried to hide too much. When he wanted it that way, people would remember him, always, but wouldn't be able to really describe him. And it was true, that as they listened to conversations around them, that people were talking about them a little: It was sad to be so sick on such a nice trip, poor Yozaka, she's so nice... But real gossip concerned 2 couples, and one of those was the 2 hooded figures. Everyone on board seemed to think they had to be some sort of criminals, or at least to hide some secret, and every body wanted to know more about it. So to be really inconspicuous, a spy sometimes had to stand out.

Patting him on the shoulder, Yozak told him that it was true for most spies, but that he shouldn't rely on it too much. He just wasn't plain enough, most of the time, especially if they were going to human lands. Wolfram didn't think plain would be (at all) the word to describe Yozak, but he was the best spy his brother Gwendal used, so he had to know what he was talking about. It didn't matter. He wasn't the kind to hide and observe, and it was actually straining him, not to just go threaten these two hooded guys to know what their plans were. He wasn't exactly subtle, or rather, he preferred taking care of everything openly.

But since he was smart enough to admit spies had their uses, he went along with Yozak's plans. He wished they'd stop this hide-and-seek game soon: the sooner they had answers, the sooner he'd go back to Yuuri. He had to be safe, with his brothers, but that wasn't the same as being there to see he reallywas safe.

As time passed, Wolfram felt a strange satisfaction, seeing as people were drinking and drinking around him. At least, he wouldn't be the only one to vomit this night. The hooded figures had been on the deck for some time, now, and he was ready to do his part. Yozak had told him to wait a little, so as not to look like they were just waiting for them.

After one drink, and a strange salted pastry, Wolfram "played" very well, since he really wasn't feeling well. So Yozak took extra care to complain loudly, telling he'd stay with his sweetheart for some time and then come back. He had to take care of his cute little sugar, he'd said. Wolfram would have throttled him, if he been feeling better: of course, if "honey" wasn't allowed, those...

They made their way to the room, and Yozak left as soon as they reached the door. He had acted tipsy, but now no one was around, he was all business again. They nodded at each other, and Wolfram closed the door behind him. He felt better as soon as he lay down, but still made extra noise, most of the times he heard voices coming down the hallway.

When he heard the doorknob turn and someone's steps, he assumed it was Yozak: He didn't even raise his head from the pillow.

* * *

><p>petula petunia: No dress for Wolfram, no :)<p>

_I hope some of you thought "oh no... not crossdressing again" ;D It still may happen later, however. We'll see!(mwahaha)_

_And I'm gonna be a little slower now (exams just finished, internship for a month, and summerjob already. I have no life anymore _:/ )

_ I'll try to make more or less weekly updates at least, as much as possible. _

_Thanks if you review!  
><em>


	6. Chapter 5

_Rule N°5: The world is divided into two kinds of people, those who have friends and those who are lonely like poor Zombie._

_huhu my brain was eaten by a zombie ... I changed Shin to Shou in chap. 4, thanks PatraH :) And well I do like torturing him, yep. It's fun. But true, it could have been worse. It still can be, later ;)_

_XandraProDayDreamer: It took me some (ok, a lot of ^^) time, sorry! But there it is!_

_I planned to update much more quickly, but rl was being a pain :p . I'll have finished school and internship by the end of the week mostly, so I should be faster next time!_

* * *

><p>Traveling took a lot less time, thanks to Anissina's creations, but Yuuri was glad when they reached the shore. Being on the banana boat was just like being in a roller-coaster: Fun the first few times, and then it's déjà-vu and you're glad to be out of it.<p>

No one was waiting for them, as they stepped on the shore, since they had made everything they could to be discreet. As far as the world was concerned, the Maou had not left his kingdom.

They were not very far from civilization, but far enough not to attract unwanted attention as the boat they used was not exactly inconspicuous. And since the boat used maryoku as fuel, it was ok just to leave it behind them in a human land. So they started to walk towards town, where they'd find a carriage to go to Sara's castle.

They were silent on the way.

Murata's head was full of theories: he had discarded some already but they had too few facts for the brain-teaser to be complete. So he was carefully going -again- through the too many possibilities there was.

Conrad was worried, but calm. The most important thing to him was that Yuuri was in no danger for now, and he'd do everything for things to stay that way. He knew even if Wolfram was reckless from time to time, he'd be fine: He knew the land, he was quite powerful, and those creatures wouldn't be a match for him, as long as he didn't cross path with some of the ones they'd met in the vault. According to the Great Sage, it was unlikely, and he trusted his appraisal.

And Yozak... well. That was Yozak. He was probably making fun of Wolfram in fact, so Conrad trusted everything was as well as it could be under the circumstances, and worrying would only make him be less careful about the well being of Yuuri and the Sage, and that wasn't going to happen. So he plastered a smile on his face, as he lead the way to town.

Yuuri watched his surroundings uneasily for some times, as he followed Conrad's lead. He half-expected undead... things to come and attack them. But as nothing came for some time, he forgot about it, mostly, and his thoughts went back to his loved ones.

He knew one member of each of the ten families at least, and since with Wolfram's father, they knew of the theft of two more bodies, it seemed likely one of every family had been stolen. To which end, he had no idea, and it didn't really matter, to Yuuri. He only wanted to do whatever felt right: letting people rest after their death did, and using dead bodies in any way didn't.

Not only did it hurt the people that knew them, but it was... well gross. And mean, and... He didn't know what words to put on this. To use dead bodies, the people that had started all this had to be crazy or really, really desperate. Even then, it wasn't something someone with a clear mind would do. And now, people he knew had been hurt. Wolfram first, and Gunter and Anissina. Although Gunter seemed to exaggerate feelings whenever it came to Yuuri, he seldom showed what he really felt. One of his uncle's body had been stolen.

In Anissina's family, it had been her grandfather. As if some sick person was playing happy families game with them, he thought.

She'd been the same as always: crazy and scary and fun at the same time. She was working (with the unwilling but forced help of Gunter and Gwendal) on Mr-if-you're-in-you-won't-go-out. As long as the body in it wasn't breathing with a beating heart, his coffin wouldn't open. Well it was the plan, but since he refused to authorize her to try it with a dead body, as it would be too close to what their enemy was doing, and using poisons on people to make them appear dead was out of the question, it was not yet done. He hoped he wouldn't have any use of it: finding the person responsible for all this, and making them stop was a better way to deal with it, he felt.

He had to find a way to do it, the sooner, the better. He liked the idea of seeing dead loved ones again, of course, but the zombies were not those people. They were just tortured bodies with no minds of their own, and that was cruel. Julia, whom he had talked to a few times in his mind, was a lot more alive, and she didn't even have a body!

Sooo... ghosts were people's mind with no body, and zombies, bodies without a mind. Someone should let them rest, or a the very least, reunite them. Even though the body would still be a horrible dead, decayed or dried one. He scratched his head. Yeah, right, so just let them rest, really.

* * *

><p>Half-asleep, he heard noises near him, and lifted his head. The room was dark but he saw a silhouette a few feet from him. It was too small to be Yozak's. Carefully, he moved to the other side of the bed. His sword was behind the bedside table, only a few feet away.<p>

A candle lit before he reached his weapon, and he met a surprised gaze. He frowned. The slim young lady in the room didn't look like much of a threat, but something about her made him feel wary.

"And just who the hell are you?"

The girl seemed to hesitate, and straightened up.

"I... who're you? I didn't think you'd be here." Wolfram lifted an elegant eyebrow.

"Since this is my room, I'd say my being here was to be expected." Moving closer to his sword, he kept his dark, angry green glare at her.

"I thought you... I'm Eleina. I fled Shin Makoku with my fiancé. I thought you were here for me."

"Well I don't have the least interest towards you. Tell me why you're in this room, I shall then decide if I'll have you put in jail."

"I..." The girl was hesitating. He took this opportunity to get a little closer to his sword, and as he reached the edge of the bed, a big wave hit the boat, making him fall off the bed, while the girl fell on it.

He shakily got up, and a new wave hit: A big, big wave of nausea. Out of a reflex, he ran to the bathroom. It was not the cleverest thing to do: He knew the girl was not really hesitating about her answer. She wasn't sure about his and Yoazk's story, most probably. Even though they were disguised, they came on the cruise at the same place their enemies did, used the same kind of story, and he'd been hidden in his room since he'd stepped on the boat. It didn't take a genius to think that was suspicious. Even someone as trusting as Yuui would have noticed it was strange. Well. Someone as trusting as he was would have. Yuuri, probably not.

He heard the girl behind him, and a second later, he was turning to the door, facing it while wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

But the doorstep was empty. He frowned and then heard the door of the main room. The girl had left. He chuckled. She wanted to know if he was faking his seasickness, and well, he was obviously not. So maybe they wouldn't distrust them anymore. That was good. Well, if she didn't go back to her room now: Yozak would still be there. He considered going to get him for about a second, but feeling sick again, he decided not to. Yozak could take care of himself, and anyway, it wouldn't be discreet if the girl, or the man with her were around the room.

The wind is picking up, he thought, as he started vomiting again.

* * *

><p>Ken Murata had been lost in thoughts since they'd reached the shore. He wasn't sure about Saralegui. Maybe there really was a woman, or maybe he'd just heard there were some problems in Shin Makoku, and decided to add some. But his spies would have been really quick.<p>

And even if in his letter he was mostly saying the truth, the odds were against him being innocent. This guy was always scheming something.

So he'd have to be wary. But if there really was a woman and a child, it raised other questions: Was Sara's kingdom chosen, and why? Was it about Sara, or just because his land was far? Was it about humans?

He was not worried.

Not yet.

However, when he thought about Shinou, or rather, his absence – and he thought about him a lot – he had to wonder. Why was he being so discreet? Either he knew something he didn't feel like telling for fun, and he'd appear soon on his best, to look like the savior of the day, or he didn't want to tell for other reasons, and maybe the situation was more serious than he wanted to believe.

Yuuri followed. He always did: He was always behind someone.

Conrad protected them, and so he went first. And Murata appeared to be deep in thoughts, had been for some time, and was without a doubt considering things that wouldn't occur to him at all. It was peculiar, for a King, not to be in charge like this: Murata's thinking was always a few (or more) steps ahead of everyone's, Conrad led the way, just as int the castle, where someone was always telling him what he was going to do next. He liked this, for truth to be told, he had no idea what he should be doing more often than not.

Well he knew what he wanted to do. It involved baseball and people most of the time. He did just that, playing baseball and talking with his people, sometimes at the same time, whenever he could, nonetheless, he knew that was not what was expected from a king. So he obeyed Gwendal and Gunter, and Conrad and Wolfram, when they told him to do this or that.

Because he wanted to be a good King.

However, it struck him, when finding, at last, a carriage that would take them to Sara's castle, that Conrad had called him "Young Master".

Was he fit to be a leader? A Master? He'd been worrying all the way about the people he loved, and to his mind, that was the most important thing a good King should do. Worrying about the wellbeing of his subjects. But he knew there was much more, so much it made him feel ill-at-ease, when Conrad said "Master". He did not feel "above" everyone. In fact, most of the time, it was the contrary, just as he felt he followed. He remembered thinking, when he'd dissapeared from Shin Makoku for a long time and the Ten Families had chosen Wolfram as their new king, that Wolf had everything a King needed. Much, much more than the average boy he was. He felt he always would be average. And what did it mean, about his kingdom? He loved his subjects... Enough not to consider them as subjects. So he should give them the best king available, shouldn't he? He didn't even want to be served or obeyed. Still, he'd fought with Wolfram for the crown.

He'd not been really keen on fighting, at the time, and the Maou in himself had chosen to appear. The Maou was the king, and he was the Maou, therefore, he was the king. It was simple but it sounded weird.

Was it the same thing? Was it ridiculous for him to be a king? He did the best he could, but would it ever be enough? Whenever his people suffered, he failed. He, alone, for he alone was responsible since he was the leader. _He_ was served. And at the same time, he always followed, always doubted he was doing the right thing, and in the end, he always failed. Wolf, Anissina and Gunter had been hurt, and it was probably a matter of time for Gwendal and the other members of the Ten families.

And he'd not done a thing about it.

And now, he was in another country, while they still had no idea about what the heck was happening in Shin Makoku, and why?

Because of something concerning him.

And before that?

Oh well, he'd hidden, well and safe behind his castle's walls, while Yozak and Wolf had been left behind. While dead people killed living ones.

He hated it.

Why was it this important to come here? He'd agreed, because he thought he'd avoid Wolf's wrath if this situation was clearer before he was back, but now... When would they have news? Was Wolf back already? Was he well? Were the dead handled? Shouldn't he be helping his people rather than here, just to protect his reputation?

A large hand on his back made him jerk up. He looked around him and found Conrad's worried gaze on him. The man smiled.

"I asked if you were feeling well twice already." He said.

Yuuri scratched his head.

"Sorry. I was just... Nevermind. I'm fine". He lost himself in Conrad's eyes. They were so nice, and beautiful. Just looking at those eyes made him feel more at ease, safe. He felt forgiven. That was such a familiar gaze, as if he'd always known those eyes, in a way, as his mother's. He smiled back.

"Don't worry too much. Wolfram can take care of himself, and Gwendal is the best man to take care of things while you're away. We'll find answers soon."

"I hope so. Anyway, this girl will understand I'm not her child's father as soon as she sees me, so we won't be here for long, right?"

With an unreadable smile, Conrad nodded. "I guess so."

His hand stayed on Yuuri's back till the carriage stopped, and he felt grateful for it. He was doing his best not to look scared, or worried, and he needed the support.

As the carriage stopped, Yuuri sighed. Unexpectedly, Sara knew they were coming, despite the disguises, and he took him in his arms while Yuuri was still on the steps of the carriage.

"I've missed you SO much!"he yelled. "How have you been?"

"Huh fine, Sara! You look well, I'm glad! Oh and hello Belies!" The man nodded, as Sara dragged the Mazoku's king to his castle.

Yuuri had not wanted to look too impatient, so he had not asked about the woman at first. Sara knew why he was here, after all. Then, he'd tried to ask, and Sara had changed the subject almost before he finished asking. Every time. That puzzled him. Murata's face was blank, as always, and Conrad was smiling. No help there. So, he'd been in his room for some time, when Conrad came in. It was dinnertime, and Sara was expecting him. They were led by a servant, a nice beautiful girl. She opened the door to Yuuri, who entered first. He looked at the beautiful table, and took a step back.

Alright.

Now, he was scared.

Yuuri loved people. He was trusting. Some would say too much, but to him, it felt natural, and it was better to trust than to fear everyone.

So he trusted no matter what, no matter who. There was, however, _that_ exception. The exception he was looking at now. The exception that seemed to be waiting for him.

He was a king. He was protected, by strong, intelligent people, he had no reason to be afraid. But he was. Since his first few days in these lands, he'd discovered the one thing he'd distrust forever. Cutlery. On the ground, there, was a fork.

He was the king of thousands, but here, in front of this small thing, he was afraid.

What was wrong about chopsticks anyway? He trusted chopsticks fine! Knives, forks and spoons... well. From an empirical point of view, those were dangerous.

Especially when they weren't on a table. Was it so peculiar to pick something that was on the ground? It sure felt natural to him. So now, he had to be wary, because he wanted to do what felt natural, but he thought someone would yell at him as soon as the fork was in his hand. "What have you done?"Drop it! You've just declared war!"... Or something. Whereas no one had a duel because of chopsticks, surely. He wondered if at some point, they were used for something strange like this. Maybe ninjas used some as weapons, like the old masters in the movies, who'd catch a fly with a pair of chopsticks. But he'd never heard of someone challenging people for one's love with chopsticks. Maybe Murata would know, he thought, turning his gaze to his friend.

He almost cried out as he saw Murata picking the _thing_ up. The Sage had followed his king's eyes and started chuckling.

"It's not funny! You never know what... Well maybe _you_ do, but I don't!"

"It's ok, Shibuya. The fork won't hurt you, now! I saved you!"

"Ha ha." grumbled Yuuri. He took his seat, as a servant moved he chair for him. Murata sat at his right, and Conrad took place behind him, standing.

His smile seemed larger than it'd been earlier. Yuuri pouted.

When King Saralegui made his entrance, closely followed by Belies, he was still pouting. As soon as Sara sat, on Yuuri's left, at the end of the table, he took his hand.

"Are you ok, Yuuri?"

"It's nothing. Thank you for inviting us. That's... Sara? Where is this woman you..."

Sara dropped his hand, as servants brought the first dishes. He looked contrite.

"I'm afraid it's going to take a little time." He started eating.

Yuuri spared a glance at Murata, who showed nothing, before asking.

"What do you mean? Why?"

As he looked at Saralegui, the Sage wondered how he managed to look so sorry, and at the same time so proud of himself. Murata wiped his glasses. This guy was a born liar, a very good actor. Not as good as he was, but still...

"As I told you in my letter – You do know you don't have to wait for something like this to visit, right? –" Yuuri nodded, and Sara smiled before finishing.

"This woman came to me, Yuuri. And you know how important it is to protect peace, and be honest, and all..."

Yuuri frowned.

"Of... of course. What..." Sara nodded at him, with a large smile, taking his hand again.

"I knew you'd understand. She came seeking political asylum, Yuuri. So I can't just bring her to you, when she believes you mean her harm!"

"What?" cried out Yuuri, taken aback.

Murata crossed his arms, listening. He could swear Saralegui was refraining from smirking.

What was this kinglet preparing?

"Obviously, I know it's not true, but still, I have to protect her, and my... advisors were against the letter in the first place, you know. I have to prepare her, and organize something. Well, you know, as I was expecting you to come with... this fiancé of yours, and now he's not here... And then I learn that you spread the word you're still in his lands, when you're here before me..."

"Wolf is... He couldn't come., and since I don't have a wife nor a child, except Greta, I didn't really want this story to be known".

Murata nearly smiled. Yuuri didn't lie, but he didn't tell too much either.

"Hmm. I suppose I wouldn't either, in your place. Still, she's under my protection, and I want to be sure nothing will happen to her, if I bring her to you."

"How can you believe I would do anything to her? I just want to understand what this is all about, because she's mistaken!" Sara pulled his hand.

"I know _you_ wouldn't, but... you're not here alone, and..."

Yuuri gaped.

"You're saying Conrad or..."

"I'm not saying anything, except that I've told her you knew she was here. And she won't meet you, unless you come alone."

Murata shook his head. This was becoming ridiculous.

"This is not going to happen, King Saralegui." Sara shrugged, with an innocent smile.

"I won't force her. The poor girl is terrified. You're well aware I take the protection of my people very seriously, and that applies as well to whoever seeks my protection."

Especially if you can take advantage of it over Yuuri, thought Murata. In that case...

"I'll do it" said Yuuri.

Murata facepalmed, as Conrad put his hand on Yuuri's shoulder.

"Your Majesty, it's..."

"I have to meet her, and clear all this. And the sooner the better. I'll be grateful, Sara, if you organize this."

Sara grinned.

"It won't be a problem _at all_. I'll keep you informed. Now that this is decided, could we catch up a little? I've missed you so!"

Yuuri smiled. Sara was really a nice guy.

* * *

><p>Wolfram had spent three days mostly locked up in his room. Two nights before, he'd tried to stay awake, to see if Yozak had found something – or had been found – in the hooded couple's room, but he was exhausted. He didn't manage to keep anything he ate, and as he'd been suspecting they were discovered, he hadn't slept much. So when he finally fell asleep, it was because he physically couldn't stay awake anymore, and when he woke up the morning after, he wasn't really surprised to see the sun high up trough the porthole.<p>

Yozak was sleeping soundly (too much) near him (way too much) on the bed. He smelled of alcohol. Wolfram frowned as he got up to wash himself, and he read a little, waiting for the spy to awaken.

All this, to learn nothing: Yozak wasn't discovered and searched the room thoroughly. He found clothes that bore no marks leading to anything useful, some food, the same they had, so it came from the boat, one sword. It wasn't too fancy, nor very old, the kind that could be found in any human city. Any traveler could buy one, so it didn't help at all. So they recapitulated what they knew.

There was one mazoku, and one woman. Maybe human, or half-human, Wolfram wasn't sure. They both wore hooded cloaks, and took action when they suspected they were followed, so whatever they were doing wasn't official for another ruler or something.

The man was a earth wielder,a powerful one, and it seemed the woman was the one controlling the undead. Also, the undead were of different kinds. Wolfram could still smell the scent of decay that was so sickening as he fought some men who once were his uncle's soldiers. And contrary to the old living corpses in the vault, those had been easily killed. Yozak had not finished searching all the ship, but he highly doubted the stolen corpse was on it, so they'd moved and then left it behind them as they fled, maybe? Or they had other allies staying in Shin Makoku that kept the corpse, perhaps.

And now they'd spent 3 days on the ship. Wolfram didn't know what to think. Nothing more than at the beginning of the trip. He missed Yuuri, the castle and his family. He thought he was worrying Greta, and that wasn't something he felt proud of: He'd vowed to himself, a long time ago, that he wouldn't disappear for long the way Yuuri did when he went back to his parent's house. Greta always tried not to show it, but she feared he would never come back.

He did as well.

So he had planned to be someone who'd always be there for here, and even though he knew he couldn't have acted any other way, he still felt bad about this. But at least, Yuuri was safe with her: He preferred it that way, that was why he'd been prepared to live the castle for long, when his Uncle refused to acknowledge Yuuri as his king.

He'd give his life and more for Yuuri, so as long as Greta had him, it was fine.

Wolfram was also very tired. The lack of any real meal left him feeble. He still trusted his strength, should it be needed, but he was aware he wasn't in his best shape, and when they'd follow their enemies on land, soon, hopefully, he knew he'd have no time to take a good and needed rest.

Yozak was most probably aware of this as well: Whenever he came back from his searching sessions, he'd bring something light for Wolfram to eat. As he was starting to get used to the sea, he felt a little less sick, and therefore, managed to eat a little, but as soon as the winds blew harder, everything had to be done again.

A least, he wasn't bothered a lot, staying in his room most of the time. And Yozak was being a pain only when ears were around, listening and ready to gossip. The man loved having an audience.

The relief Wolfram felt when he heard someone yell "Land ahoy!" was overwhelming, and he almost gave in to the urge he had to go to the upper deck to see it. But they didn't know if the first stop was the one their enemies would choose, so he had to stay hidden, pretending to be too sick to go out, that way, it wouldn't seem too strange if they stayed on the ship despite his seasickness.

Yozak had told him he could be hopeful, for the way they were spotted, they probably would stop as soon as they could, and find another mean of traveling, if they wanted to go further. It even helped them, for they made a strange couple, but they were pretty boring, near these two always hooded fellows.

Since the girl had come in their room, both had stayed hidden mostly, but had no story to look less shady, and they made no attempt to attack.

On his part, Yozak was now positive there was no corpse on the boat. Wolfram's father was still somewhere in Shin Makoku, or his remains had been destroyed. Wolfram was fuming at the mere idea, but he knew he had to wait. Should they attack now, they would learn nothing: how they had raised the dead, and why those.

Why at all?

Moreover, and he didn't know which he hated more, it was true that his father's corpse had been destroyed, raised or taken away, and the latter meant those hooded people had allies, still, in Shin Makoku.

At least, Yuuri was safe in the castle, guarded by his brothers.

He packed their things (those he could find in the room, as many clothes Yozak used and reserved for him seemed hidden elsewhere), hoping the spy was right. And he waited. A lot.

He hated waiting. He was a man of action, he had daily training sessions with his men, he rode everyday, he was used to moving a lot, tiring his body, and for the past few days, he'd only laid down, walked a little on the deck, and ran from the bed to the bathroom.

He felt more tired from the idleness than from the trip and sickness: Although he knew he was called a loafer by some people, back in the castle, he hated laziness. Some part of this reputation was his own fault. He wasn't a morning person, and he liked taking his time on the mornings, that much was true. Did it make one lazy? He didn't think so. Most of it was linked to the fact that he was a prince, and to some extent, to his family. He looked so much like his mother that people expected him to be really just like her, and though very few were the people who'd dare to say so about the former Maou, she wasn't exactly a glutton for work.

Then, again, he was a prince. Had been one, at least. As such, he was expected to look like one, to take care of his appearance, and that took some time as well, since he was also a soldier. It was all the more true since he was the Maou's fiancé. But for some reason, that didn't really apply to his brothers, in peoples mind, he thought. Not that they looked bad or anything, but it just wasn't the same expectations, maybe because he wasn't a warrior in people's mind, yet.

For some reason, people expected him to be just like his brothers, even though, they also thought that about his mother. Is wasn't logical at all, but that was the way it was. They were all very different from each other, and Wolfram had tried for a long time to look like them, but he'd understood at some point he'd never be as physically strong as Conrad and Gwendal, nor as tall as them.

He was still growing, but he doubted he'd ever be as tall as they were, and as far as muscles were concerned, well... he couldn't compete with a half-human like Conrad. Even Yuuri would outstrengh him if he trained more.

And for a full mazoku, Gwendal had always been known as a big one. It didn't matter. His maryoku was the strongest, and he didn't rely solely on it, which was why he really trained a lot at fencing. He'd never be as strong as Conrad, but he was faster, or at least, as fast, and with more training, his accuracy would improve.

But that would never prevent some people to think he wasn't as strong as them because he didn't work enough. And it was the same about duties. Wolfram took pride in fulfilling his duties, as a prince, as a soldier, and as a man, but he was the youngest.

He'd been too young to fight during the war, and sometimes, he felt people resented him for that. Not that he could have done anything about it, truth to be told, he _had_ tried, thrown tantrums, nagged his brother and his mother to go to war. But Gwendal would hear nothing about it, and his mother...

And it was true he'd been young at the time, but had he been a commoner, would his age have mattered that much? He wasn't sure about that. Commoners were enrolled despite their will, as needed, most of the time, and nobles, willing to fight, to make a name for themselves had been protected, overprotected, sometimes. He sure had been.

In the end, though, the war took loved ones from both sides.

To his mind, he should have gone to war. What kind of prince didn't fight for his people? He'd been powerless, as he heard people he knew died. He'd been powerless when Suzannah Julia had died. He hated himself for that. She'd been his teacher, and more: She'd been probably the most important being in Conrad's life. Even though he still resented his brother because of his lies, he never stopped loving him.

Of course, no one would hear him say such a thing.

Ever.

So he was shaken by the loss of someone he knew well, and loved, and even more because he sympathized with Conrad's pain. Conrad had been a different man, when he came back from the events that gave me his nickname of Lion of Ruttenberg. But Julia's loss was the worse.

It was strange, as Wolfram had acted towards him as if he was a stranger since he'd been informed Conrad was half-human, that he'd been so angry when Conrad started acting like that as well, towards him as everyone. It wasn't Conrad anymore, at those times, and despite the fact it didn't last long, for Conrad soon was sent to Yuuri's world, that left a strong impression on Wolfram's mind. He'd felt confused, because he resented his brother, he still was mad at him, but at the same time, he hated more seeing him this... dead. He'd been dead inside, when Julia died. And Wolfram wished he'd been there, with her, at war, to protect her, to protect his brother.

Another thing bothered him: If things had been different, if he'd been in Conrad's place, and vice-versa, he felt Conrad would have managed to do it. Somehow, he'd have saved Julia. Well, he'd never let Yuuri die. Wolfram wouldn't either, of course, but now, they were kind of in the same situation: Wolfram loved Yuuri and wanted to protect him just the way Conrad did with Julia. And Conrad wanted to protect them both, for he loved them both, and wanted to protect them for each other, as Wolfram did with Julia and Conrad.

Things wouldn't be the same, since Yuuri would never start a war. Or even accept it if some other country declared war to them. But no matter, he still could be in danger. Especially since he did so much to prevent war, not thinking about himself, nor about people who cared for him.

So to sum up, he'd unwillingly avoided war, was not a morning person, and would always be skinnier than his brothers.

That was, he felt, what made him a loafer. And it was unfair.

Maybe things were changing, now Yuuri was here, although people believed just what they wanted to. For example, Gunter was so jealous about him and Yuuri that he always found something bad to say about his behaviour.

That man was stupid: 1- There was nothing to be jealous of, as Yuuri didn't even trust him, and avoided him every time he tried to take a step forward in their relationship. 2- Whenever Wolfram followed Yuuri, that wasn't to avoid duty or work at the castle. Maybe it was selfish, he really wanted to be with his fiancé. Also, he was scared to see him spend so much time with Conrad, and hated letting those two alone. But that aside, he also had to protect Yuuri, and to help, to support him, and that was part of his duty, as a fiancé, as well as as a former prince. Add to that that Yuuri was a trusting wimp, and that Conrad seemed unable to say "no" to him, and anyone had to admit he was needed around the young King. Gunter would treat Yuuri as Conrad did: as a child. As a King as well, yes, but "no" wasn't a word Yuuri would ever hear from one of them, it seemed. Conrad also treated his younger brother like he was still child, but for some reason, it didn't end up quite the same way...

All in all, though, he was the only one to treat Yuuri as a man.

Even if it was a wimpy one.

Well. That much could be expected from a future husband, right? Maybe not the wimp part, but Yuuri couldn't help that, for now, and Wolfram was helping, in fact.

He was already a good King, anyway, and Wolfram wasn't worried: He'd soon be a great king. The greatest they ever had in Shin Makoku.

He was taken away from his thoughts when Yozak ran into the room, holding a cape, and putting it on.

"They're moving" he said, as he noted with a smile Wolfram was ready to go. He threw him a cloak and took one of the bags. He already had one.

"At last" said Wolfram, as he put on the cape and followed Yozak.

Many people were still coming and going off and on the boat, with luggage for the long cruise. Wolfram was glad he wouldn't be there to see it. He'd had enough since the beginning of the trip.

He just hoped they would now follow on horses. It would be easier not to be spotted, and oh so much more pleasant. Of course, had it been needed, he could have stayed on the ship for weeks (he shuddered at the idea). In a few minutes, they were out in a small town, west of the Calorian border.

Yozak disappeared from Wolfram's view for about two minutes, and came back looking as an old peasant. As he'd changed his hair color, Wolfram couldn't transform so fast, though he'd enjoy a bath and a good, hot meal, now he was back on solid ground, they had no time to spare for that. So he wore the cloak, its hood hiding his face and hair, and his traveling clothes.

Following two riders was easy enough. Wolfram prided himself at his riding skills, and Yozak's tracking ability was second to none. So they stayed far enough not to be spotted, but never too far.

When they began to understand where they were going, it was too late to go back. And they were so focused on following the tracks that they noticed too late they, as well, were being followed.

* * *

><p><em>That's it for now. Zombies should come back to say hello soon ;)<em>

_As always, thanks to reviewers !_


	7. Chapter 7

_Rule N°6: If it bleeds, we can kill it. If it's already been killed, well... _

It's been a while so: I don't own KKM! I don't own Zombies either.

* * *

><p>Yuuri smiled reassuringly at Conrad, as the man told him he shouldn't go alone for the umpteenth time. He knew it was dangerous, as no one had the slightest idea what the woman wanted, but he'd be with Sara, and Belies, most probably, so things were going to be okay.<p>

"We won't be away for long, and we will have come here for nothing if we don't meet with this woman."

Conrad frowned and was about to reply, when a knock at the door made him sigh instead.

Murata had been silent all the while. In fact, he'd been silent since they came back from dinner, the night before. He'd told Yuuri once that was a stupid thing to do, and as Yuuri wouldn't hear it, he'd started pouting (as Yuuri saw it).

When he left, Murata didn't even utter a farewell.

That wasn't nice, even if he wasn't going away for long.

And anyway, Yuuri thought it was the only thing he could do, and he was so fed up with doing nothing, and also tired of always being ordered around (even if he had to admit he was well advised nearly every time). And Sara said it would only take a few hours to reach the palace where he'd hidden the woman. She still had no name that he knew of, and Yuuri hated calling her "the woman", even in his mind, so he was looking forward to meeting her.

It wasn't that he hoped something about her, or her child, for he had no intention towards her, not even if she turned out to be very pretty – though he'd like her to be. He was, after all, already engaged.

But he had to know. Something made him feel he needed to see her, and soon. And though he'd have found it cool, to have a sixth sense, he thought he was only very curious. Sara seemed to be in the same state of mind, as he came himself, grabbing his hand to take him to the stables, where they found Belies readying a carriage.

The three of them would go, no one else.

Murata observed the Shou Shimaron King while he took Yuuri away, and smiled at Conrad. Yuuri would have been suspicious if Conrad had said nothing, and the Lion of Ruttenberg had played his part well. But they'd never let their King go alone with _that guy_, to no one knew where, of course, so the carriage had not left the domain that they were going out to fetch the horse Conrad had prepared some hours earlier.

Saralegui would be expecting this.

In fact, Murata wondered why the King had not organized something to stop, or at least slow them down, and therefore guessed they would encounter something later. Things weren't so bad anyway. Yuuri had not asked them not to follow, so Conrad didn't need to lie to his King. Murata wasn't sure he would have done it: Conrad had no problem hiding things from the Maou, as long as he thought it was needed to protect him, but lying in his face was another matter.

So there they were, following a carriage that was taking two Kings to west.

* * *

><p>Gwendal had knitted a duck, a bearbee, a dragon and a wolf, since he'd been back from the Bielefeld's lands. He was currently working on a kohi, which was a hard thing to knit. Especially since he'd been tired from running and hiding from Anissina.<p>

Fortunately, he'd managed to escape her long enough not to share Gunter's fate. He glanced at _him_ and sighed. Anissina's experiments made him go back to being a doll. Now, he had to beware of those red rays that came out of his eyes as well, while Gunter's real body was in Mr-coffin-thing, or whatever Anissina called it. The thing seemed to work: A non living body in it would stay inside.

Gwendal failed to see how that would help now the undead were already out of their tombs, but he wasn't in the mood to argue with a crazy "scientific". Maybe it would be useful later, at least to prevent grave robbery. And while she was working on this, she didn't need someone else as a test-subject.

Now was not the time (anyway, it never was) to give her the idea she should create something else.

It would be _nice_ if she managed to open it again for Gunter to have his body back, though.

He'd received news from the Ten families. Still no other undead, except the ones from the family vaults, but those were still alive. Well. Not dead anymore.

In the Von Christ land, they'd been chopped to pieces. Those pieces were still moving, attacking whoever they could reach. Word had been sent to lock them up: The soldiers were to prevent them from roaming around, but not to approach, nor attempt to kill.

The Von Christ experience had been a try, and now, the soldiers hurt died quickly but painfully, if bites or even scratches were not healed with maryoku really quickly. Then they came back from death. It had happened to nearly ten soldiers, for now, since healers had exhausted themselves on the first casualties.

Seeing as things were going, most of the leaders of the Ten families had already noticed the things were very dangerous, and didn't seem "rekillable", so they used Earth wielders to trap the things.

Now, they were all demanding answers, and what the King was doing about this situation. Answering the truth, nothing, wasn't an option. The King was taking care of another matter, that may or may not be linked to this, there was no news from him yet.

Bielefeld was still pretending the King was in his lands, but wanted know more as well, especially about his nephew. Gwendal could give him nothing: He had answers for no one, he wanted news from his brother as well, but then again, had none.

There was some news, though.

Worrying ones.

The King of Francia had answered their first missive. They had no undead problem. Now just a few days had passed, and things had changed: Queen Leila had taken measures to guard cemeteries and royal vaults after receiving their letter. Then they'd received messengers from towns on their border, relaying suspicious activities in some of those places.

Nothing too serious, at first. Grave desecrations, they thought.

There were noises, some stone graves had been moved.

Then graves had been dug out, coffins opened, and some corpses disappeared.

That was when they had first noticed the corpses feasting on a rotting carcass.

They'd been put to rest violently.

But whenever someone was hurt during one of those fights, he'd soon die, and rise again not long after that.

As time passed, the whole country appeared to be plagued. People who died from illnesses or anything, even if they didn't encounter zombies, started decaying, and mere hours after their death, they appeared as corpses dead for weeks, and they rose to attack the living.

They asked for help.

They weren't even sure what caused this, but word was spreading fast that it happened first in the Mazoku's land. And people were afraid.

Very, really, frightened.

They wanted a culprit as much as they wanted a solution. Leila informed hem that sending help now may be a needed thing to keep good relations between their two people.

She'd ordered a curfew, as it seemed the things avoided the light of day, mostly. It didn't kill the creatures, but it weakened them, at least, and they stayed hidden until night most of the time. Answering to Gwendal, she said once they were killed (again), as long as the head was hurt, they stayed dead.

Gwendal had exchanged letters with her, and now concluded that what was happening in Francia wasn't exactly what was happening in Shin Makoku, though there obviously was a link. Which meant they had to keep a close watch on their own cemeteries.

Considering there had been no sign of this "plague" in Shin Makoku, Gwendal assumed maryoku was what made the change: In Shin Makoku, maryoku healers had prevented too many people coming back from death, but in Francia, they had healed people with other means, that obviously didn't help enough, and therefore, the "plague" was spreading.

As a military man, he expected these attacks to be just the beginning. He always expected the worst, took steps to be ready if it was to come, that way, even if matters didn't become too serious, things had been done. Seen. For even if they couldn't do anything purposeful yet, the people had to be reassured the King and his advisors were taking care of the situation.

He never appeared surprised, nor worried, or clueless, for anything affecting him would soon be affecting the people, the nobles, making them seditious (at worst), or panic.

That was one thing he hoped would change, about the King. He lacked experience, so perhaps he would learn, but for now, he _always_ appeared clueless.

And what did that tell to the people witnessing this perpetually lost expression he had? That his advisors didn't keep him informed (argument used by Gwendal's uncle, most of the time. Stoffel knew this could work, as he worked this way when he "ruled for", more than advised, his sister).

Or it told them that Yuuri was cute, but stupid. The thought crossed Gwendal's mind from time to time.

Or that it was all too much for a young king, someone who didn't grow up in Shin Makoku, argument that was used by Waltorana some months earlier. Gwendal was worried about that, since the King didn't seem to understand that he was _always_ watched, and that some things as stupid as "appearing" clueless could endanger his rule, even if Shinou himself had chosen him. Even if he'd proven already he was a good, and was becoming an even better King.

Gwendal loved dearly his King: Yuuri was a good boy, caring for his people, ready to put himself at risks if needed. But he was only a boy. Maybe he felt like this because he was so cute, something that still happened about his youngest brother as well. Wolfram had grown up a lot, since Yuuri's arrival.

More and more, he acted like a man.

More and more, Gwendal felt proud of him (although he'd never show it).

That was the same about Yuuri, despite his laziness, and the fact that he still often went back too Earth, he was acting more like a King as time went by.

He was impatient to see the men they would both become.

He glanced up, as his mother entered the King's study. She said nothing, came behind him, and hugged him. She did this for herself, he knew, but he felt more focused, and his heart was a little lighter after that. He had no right to worry her: She had two sons away, the youngest gave no news, the other one was with the King, in the country of another King that _no one_, except Yuuri, trusted.

And she took care of Greta, who was bright, for her age, enough to be worried sick about her fathers.

Then again, he was worried as well, and that was another thing he'd never admit or show, he found the castle much more alive when the King was there. In just a few months, even Gwendal had got used to his King. He'd grown to trust him, and love him, just like everybody else. He loved even more the changes Yuuri brought.

He was a proud man, and had been raised as a Prince, but he'd never wanted the crown for himself. He loved power, because he hated leaving his fate, or the fate of people he loved in the hands of someone else. And he was good at it. He knew his faults better than anyone, and he'd never considered he'd be fit to be the Maou, before Yuuri came, or whenever he left. But he knew how to rule a country, how to make it work, how to make it thrive. He lacked the charisma Wolfram and Yuuri had, or rather, he had a different one.

He was fit to be a leader in a time of war, but wasn't the better choice if one wanted something else. And he himself wanted something else. Shin Makoku had had enough wars. He felt a lasting peace was something Yuuri could bring. He still found it hard to follow his King's wishes, at times, of course, and more than once, he'd argued with the boy because _he_'d have sent troops here or there, when he felt it was needed. He still wasn't convinced, and he doubted he'd ever would be, that all wars could be avoided.

He doubted all should be.

But Yuuri tried hard, he had to give it to him, and so far, he did well. Gwendal didn't approve of many things he did, but he was grateful for many as well. The Maou had saved the country more than once, and the changes he brought affected his family more than the others. Wolfram had matured a lot, but Gwendal was perhaps even more grateful about Conrad: He was becoming again the man he used to be, prior to Julia's death.

Gwendal loved both of his brothers, and seldom showed it. He guessed he probably seemed to be more concerned about Wolfram, but that was because he was the youngest. Gwendal worried all the same about Conrad. Just because he wasn't the kind of man who showed it didn't meant he didn't care.

He thought without Yuuri, the three of them would have drifted apart, and he'd probably not have done a thing about it. Wolfram had been a brat for years, and nearly worshipped Conrad until he learned about his human father. Only then did they become closer, but well, he was not really close to anyone. He never was easy-going as Yuuri and Conrad, or even Wolfram, who despite his temper had some kind of brightness that drew people to him.

It simply didn't feel natural to Gwendal, it just wasn't who he was.

And he was only starting to trust Wolfram: He had been a good soldier, but reckless, distrustful and at the same time, naive about many things. It was still true, but he really was becoming a dependable man. He was not there yet, though. But maybe he'd never would be, Gwendal guessed, with a tiny smile, as he'd always be his baby brother.

Conrad, on the other side was someone he truly depended on. He trusted his King's life with him, he valued his opinions, however, his brother was too kind most of the time.

Like Wolfram, Gwendal had despised Conrad because of his human half, but not as long as his youngest brother did. It took him some time, and Dunheely's death to think again his views about humans, but his growing respect for the man, and the mixed feelings his death brought gave him new perspectives. So he considered whoever lived in their lands had to be protected whether they were human, half-human or mazoku.

And after all, two of the men he trusted the most, Gwendal and Yozak, were half-human. Of course, after the Battle of Arnold, one had to be really obtuse not to admit half-mazoku could be real patriots.

After this battle, and Julia's death, Conrad had been a different man. He'd still smile almost permanently, but his smiles started to reach his eyes again only when Yuuri arrived. Gwendal never felt the urge to protect Conrad as he did when Wolfram was concerned. Conrad was stronger, and older, an experienced soldier and man. He'd never been sheltered as Wolfram had been, either.

After the events that gave him his nickname of Lion of Ruttenberg, Gwendal saw his younger brother as an equal, therefore, treated him as a subordinate.

They trusted each other, he thought, but there still was a gap between them. He really thought Conrad would have left for good, at some point, if not for Yuuri.

The Maou drew them back together, and even if it was something he'd keep for himself, he loved it. He loved his family, and the effect Yuuri had on them. It had been decades, since he'd thought he loved his family, for some reason, and that as well, was something he was thankful for.

He wasn't going to show it, thus, he stayed still as his mother hugged him. She didn't stay long, as he had no news for her, and she didn't want to leave Greta alone too much. She made fun of the Gunter-doll and left.

While he watched her leave the room, he thought she was stronger than he was. She managed to put a smile on everyones face, even as worried as she was, she still was joking and flirting around. He knew her enough to see through the mask, but that was something very few people could say, and so, as far as the rest of the world was concerned, everything was well: Lady Celie was preparing her next love-trip.

He spend the next few hours organizing the help he'd sent to Francia. They had to try and stop the plague, even if it was on humans' lands. And he needed to sent enough to help, but to keep enough in case something else happened in Shin Makoku. He also answered to letters he'd received from the Ten families, which took some time.

The sun had set, when he went back to his room, and he knitted for a long time before falling into a dreamless, restless sleep.

The unfinished knitted kohi had been put in a drawer. The wings were the hardest thing to do: he'd save those for last, so it was a half skeleton for now, something he didn't want to see.

The white lion he was working on would be cute.

* * *

><p>Yuuri glanced up as he heard thunder. The sky was some shade between whitish and greyish, above the coach. At some distance, it was dark grey.<p>

Following his gaze, Saralegui sighed.

"A big storm is coming."

He started playing with a strand of his hair.

"I pity riders. It'll be pouring soon," he added, with a small smile.

Yuuri smiled warmly.

"The thunder is so loud already, I'm sure everyone will take shelter before it starts raining."

Saralegui chuckled softly.

"True. Everyone will."

Yuuri nodded.

"Hmm is this place far from here?"

"A little. As I told you, it will take a few hours."

"Why so far away? Your castle is big enough, and I remember there are many hidden rooms from last time, if she wanted us to meet alone."

Sara seemed to hesitate, and with a sad smile, he took Yuuri's hands.

"I'm sorry, Yuuri. There is something I have to tell you."

Yuuri watched their hands for a few seconds, half-wondering if somehow, Wolfram was able to see this. The other half-wonder was about Sara's hands softness. His own hands were callous, because of base-ball. Wolfram's and Conrad's were as well, because of fencing. Sara's felt like a girl's. He'd probably never worked with his hands. Even Greta's hands weren't this soft, and that felt weird. As if they were brand new, and Yuuri wondered about Sara's feet. Rather, he wondered if, while he wasn't looking, Sara found someone to walk for him, because clearly, he never did anything with his hands, and maybe his feet were soft as well.

He cocked his head, now wondering why the heck he was thinking about Sara's feet. Well, Wolfram's were soft, even if he kicked hard at night. So maybe Sara walked as well.

"Huh? What?" He asked, a little confused by his own train of thought.

"I don't know if she lies. In fact, I believe she's telling the truth, but..." He marked his pause. "I know you won't like this, so allow me to ask... Did you hear anything about this woman before reading the letter I sent you a few days ago?"

Yuuri raised his eyebrows, and shook his head. That wasn't what he'd expected. He wasn't sure he should be glad about it either.

"So... you were never told she went to your castle?"

"Eh?"

"I see." Saralegui said, with a sad smile. As the silence was getting on his nerves, Yuuri squizzed his hands.

Saralegui answered him with an encouraging smile. An obviously fake one, even to Yuuri.

"I'm sure they only wanted to protect you," started Saralegui, before he fell silent again.

"Who did what to protect me?" asked Yuuri, as his patiences was wearing down.

Saralegui heaved a long sigh before answering.

"Your... fiancé, and his older brother, I guess. She said the one wearing dark green."

"Gwendal?"

"That's what I thought! They're the reason why I hid her. She claims she came to your castle to meet you, and they refused to let her. She said your fiancé threatened her with fire, and that his brother said that if she told anyone she was your wife and had your son, she'd be silenced... permanently."

Yuuri took it all without moving a muscle, and finally let out a feeble, shaky laugh.

"That's not..." He shook his head. It was ridiculous to even consider this could be true. With the same sad smile he had earlier, Saralegui shrugged.

"That's why she came seeking asylum in my kingdom," he said flippantly. "That's something we kings learn very fast. People around us often try to grab more and more power. And then, who rules? Even now, while you're here, who rules your kingdom?"

Yuuri frowned.

"Gwendal is... He always does, while I'm away. He know I..."

"Trust him," finished Saralegui. "Yes, he knows you do. They all know it, maybe too well. I heard it wasn't the first thing like this, in this family. Didn't their uncle..."

Yuuri shook his head.

"They're not like him at all! It's not like this, Sara. I know you mean well, but..."

Sara cut him again, with an innocent smile:

"I'm sure they all have the best interests of their loved ones in mind, Yuuri. But ruling, and keeping things from you to protect you isn't a trivial matter, since _you're_ their King. And well... they could be protecting your fiancé more than you."

Yuuri smiled. It was true they all were capable of many things, for his sake. And he knew as well, even if Gwendal hid it well most of the time, he loved dearly his younger brothers.

"You don't know them enough. We should do something, all of us, someday, and you'll understand. They're not like that."

Saralegui nodded with a pleasant smile.

"Of course. I'd love to, Yuuri." He frowned. "But we _are_ friends, and... Well, As I said, it's something I learned very fast, but you weren't raised in court. Some people are ready to..."

"Don't worry, Sara, They're not trying to steal the throne," Yuuri said, with a smile. It was a funny idea, really, for when it happened, his closest advisors, the former Maou's children, had been his strongest support. Wolfram more than anyone else, though he was the one competing for the throne, unwillingly.

Saralegui nodded.

"I'm not saying they are. I..." He opened his mouth, but closed it, and looked outside. Yuuri cocked his head. When Sara faced him again, his expression was serious.

"They know you trust them. They know you won't doubt them, even if..." He shook his head, gazing outside again.

"They've got no need to steal the throne." Finished finally the King of Shou Shimaron.

Yuuri withdrew his hands from Sara's and crossed his arms.

"Meaning?"

"You know what I mean. As a ruler, you have to..."

"I'm not... I don't..."

Saralegui sighed as if he was explaining something very simple to a stubborn child. Yuuri's eyes darkened.

"Well, let's say they're not taking more power than they should, don't you think it's something you should have been aware of?"

Yuuri's grip on his upper arms lessened.

"That's... They would have told me, if..."

"Really? I heard, as well as I saw how jealous this... fiancé of yours is, and I heard you weren't even willing to propose him in the first place. Don't you think he'd do anything to get rid of competition? And his brothers wouldn't want him to get hurt bec..."

"No, that's not... It's … Wolfram and I, we... It's... complicated, but he'd... You know, it was the same about Greta, and I was told, so really, there isn't any..."

"But things have changed, have they not? You'd been there for a very short time, when she came to your castle. I'd suspect some would have used this against you, had she really been your illegitimate child. Now..." Saralegui shrugged.

Yuuri stubbornly shook his head.

"No, really, there's some explanation for all this."

Saralegui smiled again.

"Of course there is." He nodded, and pushed his glasses up, staring directly in Yuuri's eyes. "All I know is that she doesn't lie."

Yuuri's mouth opened slowly, but he had nothing to answer to that.

* * *

><p>As he sneezed for the third time, Murata thought he hated this kinglet. He was used to Yuuri getting along, and even liking everyone, but really, <em>this guy<em>?

Maybe it was because he was too much like him. Saralegui manipulated people nearly as well as he did. But they were, he really, really hoped, very different. Their gift at manipulating was all they had in common, he hoped. Because (he sneezed again), he wouldn't orchestrate a chase like this one, with such a weather and... Ok, maybe he would. But that told something about his feelings towards Yuuri's friends, really...

They'd been following the carriage for less than one hour when rain started pouring. The sky had been clear earlier, so maybe even Saralegui didn't forecast that, but still, Murata wanted to punch him.

Riding behind Conrad, he checked their surroundings, and tried to keep track of where they were going. He'd never lived in this part of the world, in his previous lives, but he knew well most of it's geography. Even though he was a different person every time, he always had his brains.

They didn't have a hard time following Yuuri, at least. For now, the carriage followed the main road, according to Conrad, and Murata trusted him on that.

But even though he didn't think they'd lose them, he wasn't feeling at ease. There was something he'd missed. He hated that, when he missed something. He was used to understanding everything before every one else, and he felt he let down everyone whenever he failed. People expected him to know everything, and sometimes, it was really frustrating. The fact that _he_ expected to understand everything didn't help.

He knew Saralegui foresaw they'd follow, so why didn't he do something about it? He still had no idea if the girl, if there was one, was really asking for Yuuri to come alone, or if it was the kinglet's doing.

He didn't know yet where they were going, nor how long it would take them to reach their destination. He'd been expecting some stunt from Saralegui even before they left Shin Makoku, of course.

He only didn't believe Yuuri would fall in his trap that easily. Even if he trusted the guy, to accept to travel alone with him was not the cleverest thing to do.

Sometimes, he wondered if Yuuri realized he was the ruler of thousands of people and what it meant. Yet, it was true they needed to learn what all that was about, because he was more and more convinced this girl had something to do with the theft of Wolfram's father's corpse. Or rather, his awakening. He probably was roaming around somewhere.

He hoped if that was the case, he wouldn't cross Lord Von Bielefeld's path. But that was something he had no way of controlling, whereas he could help Yuuri, if they reached him soon enough. Because obviously, Saralegui prepared something. He just had to understand what. He'd been really evasive about the girl, so maybe he invented her altogether. But for what purpose? To get Yuuri to come here, and then make him travel by himself?

That didn't really male sense, for Saralegui had already done that. They didn't travel really, but to meet Yuuri alone, he only had to invite him to his castle, to speak about treaties, or anything linked to peace, and Yuuri would have come. He knew it, and he knew Saralegui did as well.

And again, if it was only to meet Yuuri alone, he'd have organized something for them not to follow the carriage.

Then there really was girl. Why was she pretending to be Yuuri's wife, and why did Saralegui believe her? For he believed her, didn't he? He thought about every thing Saralegui said and showed for the sixth or seventh time.

He didn't think Saralegui was faking.

He really didn't.

So there was a girl, and she was convinced she was Yuuri's wife.

If the King of Shou Shimaron wasn't only pretending to believe her, it was the truth, or perhaps she was convinced enough she was telling the truth for Saralegui to be fooled. He didn't know enough about that guy's magic to be sure. Maybe she just had a strong resistance to his magic, and the kinglet wouldn't realize – or admit – it.

Anyway, there always was someone stronger, and since he didn't know who their enemy was, nor anything about his strength, he didn't have any clue: How much of the story as told by Saralegui was true?

Shinou may have been of some help on that matter, but he still was desperately invisible.

Murata was suspecting he knew something.

Either he didn't want to tell, or he couldn't appear to any of them, and that, as soothing as it was, was worrying. Whenever Shinou had something to hide, he hid hit to every one but him. Sometimes, he _tried_ to hid things from his Great Sage, but more often than not, he'd fail, and every time he succeeded, he'd given hints.

Murata didn't know exactly what, but always knew, in those cases, something was fishy.

He knew he shouldn't have let Yuuri go alone.

It was very easy to take advantage of his kindness, but Yuuri curiously _always_ managed to have it his own way, when he really wanted to. So there was no way he'd have convinced him to stay, or at least take Conrad with him. Conrad wasn't happy about it either.

With a smirk, Murata thought he was the only one to manipulate him with no ill intents.

His clothes were soaked, already, as were Conrad's. He frowned. No matter the place they were going to, it would be difficult no to leave trails with all this water and mud.

Well, it wasn't useful worrying about this now. They were not there yet. In fact, Murata was wondering if, just maybe, Saralegui was taking a longer road, just because he enjoyed knowing they were following under such a heavy downpour.

* * *

><p>Wolfram sneezed, trying to keep it quiet.<p>

Yozak turned his head to him and smiled. For a brat, he was not that bad. He'd not complained half as much as he thought he would, and even then, he still did what was needed, even if he (sometimes more clearly than others) hated it. He also was glad to see he was stronger than he looked. This trip had not been easy on him, and he sure looked like he needed rest, but he was still sitting up straight.

Hopefully, they would be able to sent word to the castle soon. They were near allied countries, maybe not in Caloria, as he wasn't sure where in the forest they were. But not far from there, and others friendly countries as well.

The roads were a little damp, so it was really easy not to miss the tracks. They had to slow down often, in fact, not to get too close to the enemy. But as they couldn't afford to stop to rest, it helped. They'd cut off some distance, and then slow down a lot, one of them leading the horses as the other one slept a little while riding. It wasn't a comfortable rest, and it never lasted very long, since it's not easy to fall asleep in these conditions, but at least, they wouldn't yawn at their opponent's faces, should a fight await them.

He'd been surprised he'd trust the Little Lord Brat to lead him that way, but they did it twice already, and he'd not fallen from his horse, and they were still on the trail.

They were mostly silent, as their horses made enough noise already.

Yozak never really felt comfortable with Conrad's youngest brother. In fact, he disliked him rather quickly, as he knew well how hard his behaviour had been on Conrad. That, and he was half-human, as well. The boy wasn't the first nor the last Mazoku full of hatred he'd meet, so he didn't think twice about it. It just was about Conrad. The man clearly loved his little brother, and Yozak had sometimes wondered why, exactly. Because he was family? Every grown man, especially one with ties to nobles, knew how insignificant that was. You didn't chose your family, but you didn't have to bear with them if they were jerks, did you?

Or maybe it was him, as he didn't like having ties.

But he had to admit the Brat was... maybe he was growing. When he first saw the way he behaved around the Kiddo, he thought the contrary. As months passed, however, the Brat began to change. He seemed now less self-centered, and he stopped calling his brother "Weller". That hurt Conrad every time he heard that name in his little brother's mouth, Yozak had seen it many times. But every time he'd told Conrad he should teach the brat some respect ( or should let Yozak do it, really, he wouldn't have minded), Conrad had smiled. "It's nothing", he'd say. As if he'd believed it.

As it was his turn sleeping – he'd tried, but he had too many thoughts on his mind, Yozak glanced at Wolfram. The young Lord Von Bielefeld was concentrated, watching the ground to lead the horses on the more even parts of the road, and following their enemies tracks. He looked tired, but wouldn't let it show. Yozak had wondered a few times if he'd been right to take him on this trip, and he'd even considered leaving him in the last town, where he could have gone back to Shin Makoku. But one, the brat would have refused to go back with nothing to tell to his brothers, two, it would have meant taking another ship, and three, Yozak couldn't have done it alone.

He was used to following people alone, but that had been a long trip, and he was tired as well. Not as much as the young Lord, as sea didn't make him sick, and he had therefore eaten normally during the last few days, but he had not rested a lot, as he had searched an entire ship. This kind of chase didn't allow rest, if one was alone. They knew almost nothing about the couple, they had no clue as to where they were going, and no informants to keep them notified of their enemies whereabouts.

So they'd followed the riders for hours before Yozak started to have a hunch on where they were going. They'd been going roughly on this direction for some time, but it was misleading: if he was right, the riders weren't taking the shortest road.

He didn't like it in the least.

Again, _if_ he was right, maybe the riders did act with a king's orders, and he already knew he disliked _that_ king. And if _he_ was involved, the Little Lord Brat wasn't exactly the best travelling companion in the world. More likely to start a war than anything else, if truly the King of Shou Shimaron was linked even in the slightest to what happened in his family's vault.

And he didn't have any way to inform people back at Blood Pledge Castle that it could be the case. He'd have keep an eye on the brat, just in case. It wouldn't do if the young Lord did anything reckless. It was too late to go back to town and put him on a ship to Shin Makoku, anyway.

Thus, he said nothing, and thought about what he was going to do should they really be going to Shou Shimaron. Maybe they were attacking there, now? But even if that was the case, would he see things with his brains first? Yozak frowned.

He was being unfair. Maybe months earlier, the Brat would have been a liability in the situation they were in. But even he, who started not liking him in the least, had to admit he'd changed. He'd proven it a few times, already. What's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh, but the Kiddo's influence may have tamed him a little. He really didn't feel the Little Lord Brat and the young man that was with him now were one and the same.

He smiled at the young Lord Von Bielefeld, thinking he was unexpectedly bearable _and_ useful, as he moved to try to sleep again, before he yawned.

Frowning, he sat up, and took back his reins. Wolfram turned back to him, but kept his mouth shut and stopped his horse, as Yozak made him sign to.

He understood almost immediately.

The lush forest was beautiful, a little damp from a downpour they'd thankfully avoided. And quiet. Too much, eerily quiet.

Yozak cursed himself mentally. He didn't notice it earlier, but it had been too silent for a long time now. He'd not made any move to hide their tracks, as he didn't think they'd be followed. The thought never occurred to him, in fact. But usually, he felt it. Maybe that was because he wasn't used to this kind of work with someone. It had been a long time since he'd last had a partner.

He scrutinised the tracks they were following a few seconds.

"They haven't slowed down," he whispered. Wolfram frowned, and turned around, to see the way they were coming from.

"We were followed?" He asked quietly. Yozak looked around and nodded.

"Maybe. Anyway, there's someone near behind. Let's catch up with the riders a little." Looking behind them in the forest,he frowned.

"Whoever they are, they're not on us yet, but will be soon, if we don't go faster. If we stop to see who it is, we'll lose these guys," he said in a hushed tone, making a gesture with his head towards the road their enemies had taken.

Wolfram nodded, and with one last glance to the forest behind, he spurred his horse.

* * *

><p>steph : Thanks :) Aaaah I think I didn't give any answer to your questions yet ^^ Some hints though. Sorry, I like taking things slowly!<p>

Next chapter should give you answers (and some more questions if I do things well :D)

Thanks to all readers!

Tell me what you think and see you soon, space cowboys! :)

(as always, feel free to tell me of any mistake - for example I'm not sure Dunheely shouldn't be Dan Hiri, I found both in english :/ - and all. I'm trying to do better, and it helps :) )


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